



.* «0 



F**. 









5 ' .»i^'* *> 









&9^ 



;- ++<$ .% 







o * 















$ 

\ 



+>** 






, ^••-•V K v*^> V-->-^ ' 













Vv 

V^ • • * .v' 






«£ a" 




/ %. -JOBS.: J *< 



v A V t.« ^-v .^ .»••/■.<> A . »«o, Vn 










-* ^ v & 



.V 



» < 

A 






,J >- 






4, v ^ 




^.d* 
.^^ 



. „o° .^ 



.I?" 









**0« 






A v ..„ "^ ^ •••/• <* 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/polishingplatingOOhawk 



The Polishing 



AND 



Plating of Metals 



A Manual for the Electroplater, giving Modern Methods 
of Polishing, Plating, Buffing, Oxydizing and 
Lacquering Metals, for the Pro- 
gressive Workman. 



BY HERBERT J. HAWKINS 



With Numerous Illustrations and Formulae. 



CHICAGO 

Hazlitt 8c Walker, Publishers 

1904 



BURPftBV »* CONGRESS { 

T 3 1904 
ftoovrlsrtit Enwv 

~".«S8 CU XXo. 9) 
0©PY B 



Copyrighted 

1902 

BY HAZLITT & WALKER. 






CHAPTER I. 

VARIOUS KINDS OV ELECTROPLATE K S. 

There are all sorts and conditions of men among electro- 
platers. Some few among them are unusually well-in- 
formed and intelligent men, masters of their art and of 
many things not immediately connected with it ; but the 
majority of the rank and file, as in most other businesses, 
either from force of circumstances or from choice, have 
confined themselves to one line or class of plating, until 
they have become specialists. This course is, we think, 
rarely adopted deliberately, but goes on gradually and un- 
consciously, from the fact that they have had the most ex- 
perience, and consequently the best success in particular 
lines ; and so we have nickel platers who know little of gold 
or silver work, jewelry platers who cannot successfully use 
nickel and copper on large work, platers of iron and steel 
who are lost on silver ware and musical instruments, etc. 

When such a man is driven from his particular line by 
the temporary loss of a situation, he is apt to feel keenly his 
deficiencies in the general knowledge of his profession and 
to make spasmodic attempts to remedy them. Under these 
conditions, reference to his ability in nickel plating in a 
jewelrv town, or compliments on his skill with gold in a 
copper plating plant, are apt to strike him as a bitter mock- 
ery and make him regret the fact thai he allowed himself 
to become a specialist — even a skilled one. 

This is a wrong condition of things, to say the least. 

\n\ person following the plating business as a means of 

earning a livelihood should have the whole category of 

5 



6 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

solutions, classes of work and the different methods of 
handling them well within his grasp, so that if one line of 
work is overcrowded and underpaid, he may seek employ- 
ment in another line; or if one position is unsatisfactory, 
he may seek another with a reasonable hope of finding 
something to his liking. The old adage that a rolling stone 
gathers no moss may be true, but a plater does not need 
moss, and the rolling stone surely gathers polish, which, in 
the case of the plater, is equivalent to experience and knowl- 
edge. No plater can hope to become an all-round work- 
man, capable of handling successfully any position which 
may be offered him, except by actually doing commercially 
the various classes of work he is desirous of being capable 
in. The only way to practically and completely obtain this 
knowledge heretofore has been to change about from shop 
to shop, getting positions on different classes of work. The 
best places to gain this knowledge are the large job shops in 
Providence, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and other 
large cities. Some of these shops handle everything that 
comes their way in plating, polishing or coloring, from a 
pants button to a Pullman palace car, or eight and ten foot 
panels for the main entrance of a "sky-scraper." The 
work in such shops is handled quickly, cheaply and usually 
in large, quantities, so that the wideawake plater, seeking 
knowledge, may have his wish gratified by obtaining a few 
months' employment in one after the other of such establish- 
ments. He should get on friendly terms with the head 
plater, not only for what he can learn, but also in order 
to make the acquaintance of other platers. He should al- 
ways have a notebook and pencil handy, but learn to use 
them without attracting too much attention, make the best 
use of his opportunities and absorb as much knowledge as 
is possible in the various shops in which he chances to be 
employed. As a general rule, platers are very liberal with 
their knowledge and are willing to set right their brother 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS 7 

workmen with limited experience. There are some ex- 
ceptions to this rule, however ; some platers who have 
actually become so hidebound as to refuse to give out any 
knowledge, if they possess it. An investigation will usu- 
ally show, however, that platers of this class generally have 
a very limited knowledge themselves and are afraid that 
they may lose what little advantages they do possess. 

If a practical man in the plating business knows a certain 
thing, it is folly for him to guard it as a secret because its 
value does not lie in the knowing, but in his ability to apply 
that knowledge ; thus, I might tell a dozen platers the for- 
mula for a certain shade to finish in French gray, or rose 
gold, yet they would not be able to get just the same results 
that I would: in fact, they would all, very likely, get a little 
different shade of finish upon the work. It is not the 
formula that gets the results, but the individuality of the 
operator, and his experience and skill are what count. 

A general knowledge of chemistry pertaining to plating 
should be very beneficial to the practical plater, although 
I have known practical chemists to make very ordinary 
platers. A thorough knowledge of dynamos and electricity 
should also be of value. Both of these are obtainable at 
small cost in this age of night schools and correspondence 
schools. 

But what shall we say of the man who, from circum- 
stances beyond his control, is unable to move about from 
citv to city and from shop to shop, standing the sometimes 
heavy loss in idle time and expense, for the sake of buying 
experience? Is there a night school for him. as well a- for 
the chemist and electrician? T am sorry to say that there 
is not. Chemistry and electricity he should certainly study 
at the night schools; they will unlock for him a world of 
mvsterv in his daily work and give him advantages, th< 
tent of which he cannot appreciate until he has acquired 
them. But the science of electroplating is so new. and is 



O THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

changing so rapidly, that the writers on the subject are com- 
paratively few and those we have are generally students, 
rather than practical men. In a business compounded so 
intimately of mechanical, chemical and electrical processes, 
the student is apt to minimize or overlook altogether the 
importance of matters outside those in which he is inter- 
ested. Thus, we have chemists experimenting on solutions, 
electricians improving the means of handling electricity, 
mechanics designing improved machinery, salesmen push- 
ing the sale of all of them, but no one to whom the plater 
can go for an estimate of the relative importance of these 
improvements in the plating shops. 
- There are books on plating, certainly but they are of two 
classes (i) treatises which require a knowledge of chem- 
istry, and then have to be read with discrimination and 
allowance made for the difference between laboratory ex- 
periments and shop practice; and (2) compilations from 
the note books of practical platers through a long series of 
years. The latter class are the ones most frequently pur- 
chased by practical platers and afford considerable assist- 
ance to those who have sufficient knowledge of the business 
to reject at a glance the old formula? and discarded recipes 
with which they are cumbered and to select intelligently and 
use with skill the finishes and solutions which are necessary 
occasionally in the jobbing shop. 

Nothing ever comes out of these books. -Edition after 
edition is sold and each subsequent edition contains all of 
the matter found in its predecessors and whatever may be 
added from its contemporary publications and the trade 
journals. Each new edition is proudly advertised as "re- 
vised and enlarged;" enlarged, certainlv, but not revised 
for nothing is ever thrown away. Many of them print page 
after page of formula, only to add at the bottom that so 
and so says they are useless. As historical collections they 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING ol METALS. <; 

are valuable, but to the young plater they are misleading 
and unsatisfactory. 

Technical books are generally ten years behind the most 

advanced practice in any line, for the reason that it takes 
about that time for the experimental practice to become 
standardized and accepted. This is particularly the case 
in the plating business, because, as a commercial pursuit 
it is less than fifty years old and has been constantly com- 
bining chemical, electrical and mechanical processes, all of 
which are advancing rapidly and unevenly, so that it has 
been obliged to keep pace with three separate and distinct 
sciences. 

In such a case all that is left the plater to do is to buy 
the books as they are published, read them with discrimina- 
tion and reject all that he finds will not work out in shop 
experience. 

This may seem strange language from a man who is him- 
self writing a book, but I have found it to be a sober state- 
ment of fact, and I am personally acquainted with so many 
platers who have bought everything that is published and 
then been disappointed, that I am sure most platers of ex- 
perience will agree with the above statements. T know 
of but one book on plating that has been written from the 
standpoint of the electroplater and that is designed for the 
apprentice; but the demand for it lias been so large thai I 
am tempted to give the trade something from the same point 
of view only more complete, and I expect to get the same 
treatment from my readers that I have advocated in the 
preceding paragraphs. 

Salesmen From the supply houses form a very important 
source of information for the plater. They are generally 
up-to-date and, if so inclined, can give the isolated plater 
much that he should know; and frequently the) are a very 
substantial help to him. They are on intimate terms with 
platers all over the country, and their opportunities to ob 



IO THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

serve the efforts of skilled men are unlimited. Cultivate 
the travelers, by all means ; you will be well repaid for your 
trouble. 

What the isolated plater, or the inexperienced man most 
needs, I think, is to take a general survey of the work, in its 
relative importance to that which has preceded and will 
follow ; and in this manner he will find of supreme im- 
portance in his work many things that the student and the 
scientific man either ignore or take for granted. So I am 
tempted to emphasize these things, and if much that is set 
down here does not appear in other works on plating, the 
skilled men in the profession who may chance to see this 
must remember that I am not seeking to enlighten them, 
or air my own opinions, but to tell a few things that others 
have ignored and which the younger element of the trade 
have not yet learned. 



CHAPTER II. 

SOME POINTS ON HYGIENE FOR PLATERS. 

It is of the utmost importance to the professional plater 
that he should understand something' of the effects of the 
hydrocyanic acid fumes, and the fumes of other acids and 
chemicals used in the plating room. The writer can state 
positively, from a very dear experience, that it is important 
for any one who expects to follow electroplating for a liveli- 
hood to start in as he can hold out. Without wishing to 
discourage any one who may have a desire to follow this 
very interesting and instructive line of work, I deem it wise 
as an old-timer at the business to give some of my experi- 
ences with the different chemicals, and their escaping gases, 
which are in common use by platers. While stating their 
effects upon my general health I desire to say that the same 
conditions may effect other people differently, or not at all. 
I am acquainted with platers who have been at the business 
for twenty years or more without any outward sign of 
broken health. On the other hand, men at the trade for a 
few years only are often taken with sickness of some kind, 
caused by inhaling the noxious gases in the plating room, 
sometimes unavoidably and sometimes through careless- 
ness. 

Some platers arc disabled for a time and forced to rest 
on account of their systems being more susceptible to the 
actions of the solutions and Fumes. For instance, the hands 
of some men are much more easily poisoned by cyanide 
-"Iiiumus than others. The cyanide, getting in cuts, or 
under the nails, and in the pores of the skin, causes a burn- 

ii 



12 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

ing, feverish sensation, which is very painful. The hands 
swell up and sometimes the arms swell also. Sores arise 
frequently, where there has been any scratch or cut on the 
skin. These maturate and form a round hole; they are 
very painful until the fever subsides and they begin to heal ; 
when the matter is removed, a hole or pit is left, which heals 
quickly, if kept clean and dry. 

In case the hands or arms become swollen or poisoned, 
a rest from work should be taken until they are again well 
and in a natural condition. Washing the hands in very 
dilute carbolic acid water will alleviate the pain somewhat 
and hasten the healing by neutralizing the cyanide. When 
it is necessary for the plater to have his hands in cyanide 
solutions from time to time, or to handle work that is sat- 
urated with the solutions, it would be well to have a jar of 
acidulated water, composed of eight ounces of sulphuric 
acid to each gallon of water, close at hand so that the hands 
may be plunged into it from time to time, thus destroying 
the effects of the cyanide before it has had much time to 
penetrate the pores of the skin. A better plan is for the 
plater to wear rubber gloves, where this is practicable. 
The greatest drawback to the gloves is the fact that they are 
easily punctured and, if worn in a leaky condition, are worse 
than no gloves at all. The punctures, however, may be 
easily and quickly repaired by the use of a little rubber 
cement. 

The system being poisoned from contact with cyanide, 
mercury dips, or copper solutions, often causes the break- 
ing out of boils, or abscesses, upon the limbs or body, or 
both. The writer once had a finger badly lacerated upon an 
emery wheel ; while in the process of healing the dressing 
upon the wounded finger became saturated with cyanide of 
copper solution ; the arm and hand became badly swollen 
and were very painful ; finally a boil appeared upon the 
hand ; then two came upon the arm, with several others 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 1 3 

upon the back and other parts of the body. While under- 
going treatment for this disability, my physician strongly 
advised me to give up the plating business, in order to regain 

and retain my health. This I did for a few months, but 
soon returned to my old work. Plating seems to lie like 
sailing. "Once a sailor, always a sailor." 

Caustic potash which is used so extensively for clean- 
ing purposes by the plater, is also a poison to some consti- 
tutions, and in any event is a medium which materially aids 
cyanide, mercury or copper solutions to enter the system 
and produce all kinds of blood troubles. The other potas- 
siums and oxalates are also more or less poisonous. Potas- 
sium poisoning varies greatly with the victim. In some 
instances only certain portions of the hands or fingers seem 
to effected, while in other cases the whole arm may be seri- 
ously poisoned and a case of blood poisoning ensue. In the 
majority of cases, the first symptoms are intense itching of 
the back of the fingers, followed in a few hours by minute 
water blisters. If treatment at his stage is resorted to and 
work suspended for a few days the hands readily assume 
their normal condition, but once the workman receives this 
warning and does not take precautions, a second, third, and 
fourth attack are sure to follow, each a little worse than the 
previous one. In the second attack the blisters are larger 
and the itching more intense; the blisters break, leaving 
raw patches which heal very slowly. In the third and 
fourth attacks, the skin begins to thicken and after the blis- 
ters have disappeared begins to crack open and peel away, 
leaving raw spots and incapacitating the workman from 
doing any work which involves the use of his hands. As 
soon as a plater finds these symptoms coming on he will do 
well to go to his druggist and have the following prescrip- 
tion put up : 



14 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

Syr. Ferri Iodide. 6 dr. 

Syr. Sarsaparilla . . . 2 oz. 

Dose : A teaspoonful after each meal. 

To allay the extreme itching, the hands may be held in a 
bowl of tepid water and C. P. carbolic acid. A teaspoonful 
of acid to the quart of water. This bath may be saved and 
the hands immersed in it from time to time. Care should 
be taken to stir the bowl with a spoon before plunging in 
the hands as the acid sometimes has the tendency to separate 
and sink to the bottom, and unless stirred will burn the 
fingers. Resinol is a prepared salve which can be had in al- 
most any drug store, and which has a tendency to draw 
the poison from the fingers and keep back inflammation. 
This should be applied freely to the affected parts, and the 
fingers bound up for a few hours until all inflammation has 
disappeared. When the following ointment which is a 
skin grower and aids in producing a normal tissue should be 
applied : 

Aristol y 2 dr. 

Sterilized Olive Oil 2 dr. 

Vaseline . 2 oz. 

This skin food should be freely applied to the hands and 
fingers before retiring for the night and a pair of loose cot- 
ton gloves pulled over the hands. Where the skin is abnor- 
mally thick, this food softens it and penetrates the crevices, 
helping to form good healthy underlying tissue. Without 
a skin food, the skin is apt to remain so very thin that it 
breaks with the slightest pressure. During troubles of this 
kind, all soaps which contain alkali must be abandoned, and 
where necessary to use soap at all something of the nature 
of Cuticura soap, surgeons' green soap or pure Castile only 
should be used. It would be much better, however, to avoid 
the use of all soaps for the time being. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 1 5 

Cyanide fumes also affect the general health of platers, 
in time, where there are large quantities of strong cyanide 
used, with insufficient ventilation of the plating rooms. This, 
however, takes some time, and where the plater will use care 
in doing his work and refrain from handling cyanide in any 
form any more than is absolutely necessary, at the same 
time keeping the room well ventilated, so that he will inhale 
as little of the fumes as possible, observe the laws of nature 
concerning his everyday life, be temperate and of regular 
and proper habits, he will probably escape most of the evil 
effects common to most platers. 

Some of the common effects of inhaling cyanide fumes 
are a loss of appetite, bitter taste in the mouth : dryness of 
the throat and nose; swelling of the passages in the head; 
soreness over the eyes, and a languid, tired feeling. This 
may go on for some time without appearing to grow any 
worse, if no rest is taken. Then the sufferer is liable to 
attacks of dizziness, being unable to stand at times ; then 
vertigo and vomiting may follow. These spells may come 
on every week, or oftener. When the plater gets into such 
a state of physical weakness that it is liable to have serious 
effects upon his future health, and also interferes with his 
work, he should by all means take a much needed rest. 

Very strong cyanide fumes, when inhaled in large quan- 
tities, as, for instance, when a new solution is being made, 
or a large quantity of cyanide dissolved for any purp 
will often cause a fluttering of the heart, making it difficult 
to breathe. In this case the plater should go immediately 
into the outer air and inhale the fresh air by taking deep 
breaths, expanding the lungs and driving out the poison- 
ous fumes. The digestion is also sometimes affected by the 
different gases parching the mouth and throat, thus dry- 
ing up the saliva that should go into the stomach to help 
digest the food. The fumes from lacquer and lacquer 



l6 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

thinner have a very drying effect upon the mouth, throat 
and lungs. 

Where cyanide solutions are used in large quantities, 
hooks and tongs, long enough to reach to the bottoms of the 
vats, and suitable for removing any pieces of work that 
may drop to the bottom, should always be at hand. They 
should be used instead of the plater, or his assistant, thrust- 
ing his arm into the poisonous solution ; platers do this en- 
tirely too much. When a piece falls to the bottom of the 
vat, it is much quicker to reach the hand in and get it out 
than to fish for it with a hook or tongs. While no evil 
effects are noticeable at the time, still a continuation of this 
practice is bound to bring retribution sooner or later. It 
is only reasonable to suppose that, as the pores of the skin 
absorb the cyanide every time the arms come in contact with 
it, cyanide being very penetrating, it is only a question of 
time when evil results will follow, depending upon the 
frequency with which the poison is allowed to come in con- 
tact with the body and the amount absorbed. Much de- 
pends also upon the habits of the individual and his physi- 
cal condition. All these things have a bearing upon the 
result, either for good or for evil, and so they are worth con- 
sideration. 

Platers who are closely confined, or who work in poorly 
ventilated rooms, should take as much out of door exercise 
as possible, and make a practice of inhaling good, fresh 
air freely, always sleeping with a window open when the 
weather will permit it. Exercise that is calculated to stim- 
ulate a good circulation of the blood is of much value, as the 
action of the fumes common in the plating shop has a tend- 
ency to cause a sluggish circulation. 

Plenty of good, wholesome and blood-producing food 
should be taken and the plater should drink freely of water 
and milk. Many platers are addicted to strong drink and 
nearly all of them to the use of tobacco, and almost without 



THE POLISHING AND PITTING OF METALS. 1 7 

exception, if asked for a reason for it, the answer will be 
that they think it is an aid in counteracting the acid or 
cyanide fumes, as the case may be. This is a mistake, but 
it is generally used as an excuse and I believe that some 
platers really think that they could not get along without 
their regular dram. The fact is that any alcoholic beverage 
not only does not counteract cyanide poisoning, but, if any- 
thing, aggravates it. Cold baths, followed by brisk rub- 
bing with rough towels, will stimulate the circulation of the 
blood, thus aiding the system to throw off any foreign mat- 
ter which may be in the blood. 

For platers who are working over strong cyanide solu- 
tions continually, a Turkish bath, or vapor bath, once a 
week is valuable where the system has become saturated 
with cyanide when the bather begins to sweat freely in the 
hot room, a distinct odor of cyanide can be readily detected, 
thus proving beyond a doubt that the cyanide penetrates 
the system and that a good sweat bath will remove a part of 
it at least. 

Care should be taken to avoid drinking from vessels of 
any kind that are used for dipping or handling solutions or 
acids. It is a dangerous practice. You may, perhaps, 
rinse the dish thoroughly before you drink, but some day 
you will be in a hurry and forget to do this. Then, others, 
not being acquainted with the nature of the dangers lurk- 
ing about the plating room, and seeing you drink from this 
same dish, may, at another time, drink from it without first 
rinsing it. This has often caused very serious and some- 
times fatal results. It is a good plan to have the drinking 
cup fastened by a chain to the drinking faucet, to have it 
always in place when wanted, thus preventing its use for 
anything else and also avoiding the necessity of drinking 
from any other vessel. 

In using potash, lye, caustic soda, or any other strong 
alkaline solutions in removing grease or cleaning, avoid 



l8 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

as much as possible having the hands come in contact with 
the solution, as it readily attacks the skin and dissolves it. 
It also affects the nails to a considerable extent. Where it 
is necessary for the hands to come in contact with these 
cleaning compounds, it is advisable to have near at hand 
a jar containing very dilute sulphuric acid ; or a little nick- 
el solution will answer the same purpose. It is very diffi- 
cult to handle work on wires when the hands have been 
in contact with any alkaline solution, such as cyanide or 
potash, so that it will be found advantageous to dip the 
hands into the acid water, or into a little nickel solution. 
This removes from the hands the slippery or slimy coat- 
ing caused by the alkali dissolving the skin and allows the 
work on wires to be easily handled. 

Cyanide taken internally, even in very small quantities, 
usually proves fatal at once. If the victim still retains life, 
peroxide of iron and potassium carbonates should be given 
at once and the coldest water, or ice, if available, should 
be applied to the back of the head and to the spine. 

Sulphuric, nitric or muriatic acids, if taken internally by 
accident, should be treated by giving the patient carbonate 
of soda or magnesia, dissolved in water. 

Potash or other alkalies accidentally swallowed, require a 
few drops of sulphuric acid in water, or a drink of vinegar 
or tartaric acid. 

If poisoned by arsenic, the victim should be made to 
vomit immediately, by thrusting the finger down the throat. 
Then give freshly precipitated ferric hydrate and calcined 
magnesia mixed with fifteen times the quantity of water. 
Give a swallow of the mixture every few minutes until re- 
lief is experienced. 

For lead or copper salts, give a few drops of sulphuric 
acid in a glass of water, or give him lemonade or bichro- 
mate of soda. 

The best remedy for cyanide sores upon the hands, when 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 19 

it is not convenient for the plater to take a rest in order to 
allow the sores to heal, is to apply a piece of shoemaker's 
wax to the sore, first heating it until soft and then dropping 
it upon the sore and pressing it on smoothly, when il should 
be allowed to cool and harden. This will withstand the ac- 
tion of the cyanide and protect the sore, giving it a chance 
to heal. 

If the plater will use ordinary care to keep his rooms 
well ventilated and watch himself closely and continuously, 
he will be likely to have little trouble ; but most platers do 
not learn this until they have had one or two severe frights 
and an occasional spell of sickness. In the plating room, 
as in railroading, a moment's carelessness may cost a life, 
and the beginner should know it in advance. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE POLISHING ROOM ITS MACHINERY AND 
MANAGEMENT. 

One of the commonest mistakes made by inexperienced 
persons who are embarking in the plating business is in 
laying out the plating rooms as conveniently as possible 
with the space at hand, without taking into serious consid- 
eration the amount of space and light required in the pol- 
ishing department. Such persons will usually give this 
very important branch of the business any space that may 
not be necessary for other work, while, as a matter of fact, 
the polishing and buffing room should be given the prefer- 
ence in the matter of space and light ; and this latter course 
is always followed by those who are experienced sufficient- 
ly to know the value of sufficient room for handling the 
required work and also the absolute necessity of a good light 
in order that polishing may be properly done rapidly and 
cheaply. 

Of course the amount of floor space and the arrangement 
of the polishing machinery in the room will depend entirely 
upon the class of work to be handled. Large work, such 
as flush pipes, tubing and other plumbers' supplies, also rail- 
ings, large panels and other bulky pieces, either of brass or 
iron, require sufficient room about the polishing lathes to 
handle the work freely and easily, without interfering with 
the workmen at the adjacent machines. The room space 
should also be large enough to permit of turning end for 
end any piece of work you may be called upon to do. 

Smaller work, such as cutlery, bicycle trimmings, hard- 
ware and small brass goods, do not require as much floor 

20 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



21 




Fig. 1. 



Heavy polishing lathe with 54-inch spindle, with tubular 
bracing along the spindle. 



space for polishing, as there are no large pieces to turn 
about and move in several different positions while being 
polished; therefore the polishing latins may be set much 
closer together and also have much less room at their fronts 
and backs than could be permitted if there were a liability 



22 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

of frequently receiving long and large pieces to be polished. 

It is a fatal mistake to fit up a plant for polishing and 
plating of any kind without considering the polishing as 
of the first importance, for unless the work comes to the 
plating room properly polished and highly finished, first- 
class work cannot be expected in the plating or the finish- 
ing of the work. Of course each plant will have to be 
laid out as best suits the amount of room and light avail- 
able, considering the class of work to be done and leaving 
as much margin as possible for those occasional large jobs 
that may come to you because the other fellow cannot pol- 
ish them properly at a profit. 

In large manufacturing or jobbing plants, where large 
quantities of rough work are handled, such as brass or 
iron castings, plates or stampings, it is usual and quite 
necessary to have the grinding and polishing done in a 
separate room from that in which the buffing and finish- 
ing of the plated work is performed, as when both opera- 
tions are done in the same room the small particles of metal 
and emery from the grinding and polishing wheels will fly 
about the room and become lodged in the buffing wheels, 
on the work to be buffed, or on the buffing compound, caus- 
ing the work to be scratched while being finished. This 
should always be avoided when possible, as it detracts much 
from the appearance of the finished work if allowed to go 
out, or causes unnecessary expense and delay if the scratches 
must be polished out again, besides rendering the buffs 
and composition unfit for fine work, on account of the diffi- 
culty of cleaning out the coarse particles from the buffs 
when they have been allowed to get into them. 

In fact, in any large and well arranged plating establish- 
ment, there are four departments which should be separated 
by partitions of wood or glass, or both, namely : the grind- 
ing and polishing room, the buffing room, the plating room 
and the lacquering room, if a class of work is handled that 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 23 




Fig. 2. Polishing Lathe, with 45 - inch spindle and heavy arched 
bracing and 1 tuxes. 

requires lacquering. This is not meant to be laid down as 
a necessity, but as indicating what should be the arrange- 
ment of a well appointed shop turning out large quantities 
of first-class work. Of course, for the great majorit 
small shops, this would be too great an expense to incur, 
particularly in cities, where rents are high ; so these shops 
usually content themselves with two rooms, a polishing 



24 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF MaTALS. 

room and a plating room, preferring to take chances on 
getting the work out in a satisfactory manner, rather than 
incur the expense of partitions and larger rents. 

Some shop owners are so careless, or lacking in profes- 
sional pride, as to attempt to do the polishing, buffing, 
plating and lacquering all in one room — and a small room 
at that. Where this practice is indulged in, good work is 
next to impossible, as the lint from the buffs, the flying 
rouge and emery dust get into the plating solutions and 
on the lacquered work, causing no end of trouble. Unless 
the plant is very small and the amount of work to be done 
is limited in quantity the several departments should be sep- 
arated by partitions with close fitting doors. 

The machinery in this, as in every progressive business, 
is changed and improved from time to time, and it is 
always a mistake to purchase any but the latest and 
most improved machinery in fitting up a plant, 
as the cost of doing work depends very largely 
upon the means for doing it, and a less cost on 
your work always means that you can work at a profit 
where your poorly fitted competitor will make no profit, 
or even a loss. We do not advocate low prices in the plat- 
ing business, but there always has been and always will be 
price cutting when work is slack, or when a new competi- 
tor enters a field in which there is insufficient work to 
keep the new establishment fully employed without trench- 
ing upon the business of the older establishments ; then, too, 
there is the shrewd buyer, who is always looking for a 
chance to reduce costs, and he usually does it by manipula- 
tions that will start competing platers to cutting prices. In 
such a case it is always the best fitted shop that starves the 
other out, and if such games are tried on you, you may have 
cause to be thankful that your machinery is all new, of the 
latest patterns and well adapted to its purposes. While 
the patterns may vary, certain characteristics are to be found 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 25 




Fig. 3. Polishing lathe with 52-inch spindle, mounted on hol- 
low column and braced across the top. 



in the goods of all manufacturers, and we desire to have 
it understood that we do not mean to indicate that the 
illustrations used in this connection were chosen as the only, 
ones that are worth purchasing, but only that they will 
serve as types of their special classes and illustrate the re- 
quirements of the machines which should be purchased In 
fitting up a plating and polishing establishment that is to 
take its place in the market, fitted to fight for business as 
all concerns frequently must do. 



26 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

Polishing lathes should .be selected that are best adapted 
to the class of work to be done. For large, heavy work, 
where large wheels are to be used and considerable pres- 
sure is put on the wheel by the operator in removing scale, 
sand holes, etc., from castings, polishing heads should be 
selected that are made particularly for strength and durabil- 
ity. They should be mounted on cast iron posts or pillars 
capable of being well secured to the floor and should be well 
braced along the spindle from bearing to bearing. The 
flanges or collars at each end of the shaft should be set 
close to the bearings, thus allowing the machine to carry 
without springing, wheels of a size and weight that would 
be impossible without a system of bracing as illustrated. 
Boxes should be adjustable to take up wear. The whole 
construction of this machine should be calculated to make 
it firm and rigid under the heaviest strain ; at the same time 
it should be built in such a manner as to leave plenty of 
space to handle and turn the work below the wheel. 

Then there is the overhanging or projecting lathe, which 
carries its wheels or buffs farther out and away from the 
post or column upon which the head is fastened than is done 
by any other form of polishing lathe. This machine is 
valuable for special work, or for any large work requiring 
plenty of room, such as large pieces of sheet metal, pipe, 
rods, brackets, chandeliers or brass beds, or other articles. 
From these heavy machines the lathes on columns range 
down through various sizes, from those sufficiently heavy 
and strong to run wooden polishing wheels up to 16 inches 
diameter, to those adapted to carry buffs 9 or 10 inches in 
diameter at 3,000 revolutions per minute ; then on to the 
light polishing head, adapted to run on a bench, without 
a countershaft. The various classes of spindles shown 
separately may be fitted in most of these lathes. Then 
there are the foot-power machines, and the electric, or motor 
polishing head. The latter is very neat and serviceable for 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 27 




Fig. 4. Overhanging polishing lathe with slender arch neck 
and 48-inch arbor. A popular type. 

the smaller classes of work. It requires no belting or 
countershaft, which is frequently a big item ; it can be run 
at any desired speed, having a lever to increase or reduce 
the speed at will ; it is practically noiseless, and it may be 
set up and run wherever electric lights are used. When 
not in use all expense ceases ; there are no rattling counter- 
shafts to keep oiled and no greasy belts to scatter dust 
and dirt about the room. The first outlay in fitting up 
with these machines is considerable, but their advantages 
are such that they must come into extended use in the light- 
er shops in cities, and also in the newer plants for heavier 
work that are being fitted up with electric distribution of 
power. Larger sizes of tins machine are now being made 
with ring oiling bearings and regular connections for power 



28 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

circuits. The man who puts them in should bear in mind 
that polishing lathes generally use from three to five horse 
power, and make his electric installation accordingly. 

The twin lathes are a novelty which are finding their 
way to a limited extent in some large shops. This machine 
consists of two single ended shafts, mounted in one stand, 
the idea being to permit one workman to stop for any pur- 
pose at will, without interfering with the other. This pat- 
tern has extended use in some of the large shops in Cleve- 
land, Ohio, but does not seem to be received with much 
favor by proprietors generally, because the extra cost of 
the pulleys, belts and countershaft make the advantage 
gained in time of questionable value financially. 

Very small shops, which do not have much work on many 
wheels, sometimes use lathe spindles with two flanges on 
each end. In this case all four wheels are mounted on the 
one lathe, which saves the extra expense of buying an extra 
lathe and some floor space. The practice is not to be recom- 
mended, however, except as a necessity when starting a 
small business. 

Foot power polishing machines are made in several differ- 
ent styles, of which the one shown is a type ; but they are 
not to be recommended, except for very small plants, and 
for the amateur, or where no other power is available, as 
doing polishing of any kind by foot power is hard work, 
slow and unsatisfactory in every way and the plater will 
find that he- can put in his time more profitably soliciting 
enough extra work to pay for the power he uses in polishing 
rather than attempt to economize by doing his work with- 
out power, even if his plant be a very small one. 

The foot power polishing lathe was never intended for 
the plating shop, anyway ; it was designed for buffing 
watch cases in country jewelry stores, rings and such other 
jobs as come to the country jeweler, where the lathe will 
probably not be used over once or twice a day on the lightest 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF MF.TAI.S. 



2Q 




Fig. 5. Overhanging polishing lathe on open column with arched 
spindle bracing, 42-inch arbor. 

kind of small work. It is kept in stock by dealers in pol- 
ishers' supplies who have the trade of jewelers and is never 
sold to platers, except as a makeshift, which is intended to 
be displaced by a power lathe as soon as the plater can 
raise the money to buy one. 

Then there is the flexible shaft, which is a machinist's 
device that has been very successfully adapted to the pol- 
ishing room. The wheel or buff is attached to the spindle 
at the end of the flexible shaft, hand holds being arranged 



3° 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



on each side of the wheel, so that the operator may easily 
guide it, instead of guiding the work as he does on an or- 
dinary polishing machine. By the use of this machine, large 
pieces that would otherwise have to be handled with ropes, 
chains and pulleys (being too heavy to be handled by hand) 
may be polished by laying them on the floor, with space 
enough to get around them, and working them down with 




Fig. 7. Overhanging polishing lathe for bench or column as desired 

the various wheels and buffs in succession. Large work 
of peculiar and inconvenient shape may also be polished 
with this apparatus quicker and consequently at less cost. 

The belt strapping attachments shown are simple in con- 
struction and easily operated They are designed with a 
view of meeting the requirements of the large variety 
of work which experience has shown can be economically 
and rapidly polished or roughed off by this method The 
facility with which these machines can be operated make 
them applicable for many small articles heretofore polished 
on regular wheels, on account of the ease with which the 
work may be handled on belts and the much greater work- 
ing surface of the belt as compared with the circumfer- 
ence of a wheel, 

These belt machines can be used to great advantage by 
manufacturers of bicycles and bicycle parts, brass cocks, 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 3 1 

and other plumbers' fittings, gas fixtures, grate and fender 
work, while for cutlery they seem to be indispensable, as 
with no other device can the operator reach as well all sorts 
and conditions of metal surfaces that are inaccessible with 
the regular polishing wheels. 

In operating them, the flanged driving pulley is placed 
on the end of a grinder head or polishing lathe spindle. 
The upright supporting the smaller pulley is designed to be 
set up at a point that will admit of using standard length 
belts, but this may be increased or diminished at the dis- 
cretion of the user. The upright support is screwed se- 
curely to the floor, as is also the adjusting arm. In chang- 
ing the belt the operator merely presses his foot on the lever, 
which will release the dog from the notched adjusting arm, 
moving the upright slightly forward, after which the belt can 
be instantly removed or replaced. The upright is then drawn 
up until the proper tension is reached, where it is automat- 
ically locked. Any stretch in the belt is readily taken up 
by the adjustment. 

The bench machines shown are designed to be operated 
in the same way, except that they may be driven from polish- 
ing lathes which are mounted on benches, and they have 
extended use in shops which handle much small work. 

Electricity has recently been applied also to the flexible 
shaft. A small motor, mounted on a light truck, being 
used to rotate the shaft, while connection is made to the 
motor by means of a lamp socket and flexible cable. This 
portable outfit has been used in many of the large stores 
and office buildings in the cities as a means of polishing 
signs, railings, door plates, hinges, lavatory fittings, ex- 
posed plumbing and any other metal surfaces or fixtures 
that can be gotten at readily without removing them. This 
reduces the janitor force and wage account by doing away 
with most of the hand polishing, which in large buildings 
requires the entire time of several men for this purpose 
alone. 



S 2 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 




THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 33 

In some large and up-to-date shops the motor system 
of driving machinery has been adapted to the polishing 
room with considerable success. This system gives many 
advantages which are of importance to a large plant; the 
chief of these is that power is being consumed only while 
work is being done, as electricity responds so quickly to 
any resistance that the power consumed instantly rises 
when resistance is encountered and as quickly falls off 
when the wheels are running free. If we consider how 
much of the time the work is held away from the wheel, 
even when polishing, this gain will be seen to be enormous. 
It also allows greater freedom in the location of the pol- 
ishing shop, as wires to feed the motors may be run any- 
where at any reasonable distance, without serious loss of 
power, as would be the case if belts and long lines of shafting 
were used to carry the power. The current may be car- 
ried through stores, salesrooms or offices in a cleanly and 
effective manner, which is not the case with shafting. Ad- 
ditional power may be cheaply and quickly added electrical- 
ly and a prosperous business is always wanting more 
power in the polishing room, as any superintendent of 
a large plant will cheerfully testify. These are some of the 
reasons why the electrical system of driving is making 
rapid headway in large plants. 

The electrical system of driving also has the advantage 
that one may start in a small way and keep on aclding 
motors as more power is required, as it has been found that 
it is cheaper to add another motor with each new group 
of lathes than to take them out and replace with larger ones 
when more power is wanted; in fact, the more motors the 
better, as far as consumption of current is concerned, be- 
cause the more motors you have the less shafting there 
will be and the fewer belts. It is in doing away with shaft- 
ing and belts that one of the chief gains is made by the 
electrical system. Consequently one need never sell a 



34 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 




Fig. 8. High speed buffing lathe, with long spindle. 

motor for less than it cost, but simply keep it and buy an- 
other for the additional power that is needed. 

The direction and amount of light available for each 
workman should always be the first consideration in laying 
out the arrangement of any polishing room, whether two 
or twenty lathes are to be used. Each workman should 
face the light, if possible, so that he may at all times see 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



35 




Fiy. !». Iliyh speed buffing lathe with tubular bracing for spindle. 



exactly what he is doing without having to leave his ma- 
chine or turn around to examine his work. No polisher 
can do good work and do it quickly with a poor light, and 
as the price of labor is the chief item of cost in any polish- 
ing room, it behooves the management, especially in large 



36 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



plants where many men are employed, to make the best 
possible use of the available light. 

Suction fans, or exhaust blowers, should be provided in 
all polishing rooms, even when only one or two polishing 




Fig. 10. Electric motor lathe on column, with starting 
lever and rheostat in column. 

lathes are to be used, as they are a great help to the polisher 
in keeping things clean and in making the air of the room 
fit to breathe. Hoods should cover each wheel and be con- 
nected by large metal pipes to the main exhaust pipe of the 
blower, so that the lint and dirt from the wheels may be 
drawn into the blower, thus keeping things clean and 
adding greatly to the health and comfort of the polishers. 
In most of the states the law requires the use of blowers in 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 37 

all polishing rooms, and it is a law that should be rigidly 
enforced. The greatest trouble in the use of blowers is 
that they are generally too small for the work which they 
are expected to do. Then, too, they are very often im- 
properly set by inexperienced men (in the effort to save a 
dollar) and do not give satisfaction. The funnels or hoods 
from the blower pipe should be wide enough and come close 
enough to the wheels or buffs to draw in all dust and lint 




Fig. 11. Electric motor lathe, with starting switch in base and plug 
connection to lighting sockets. 

that is made while working. Screens of wire of a rather 
coarse mesh should be fitted into each hood where it tapers 
3own to enter the pipe whenever small work is to be pol- 
ished. These screens will prevent the work from being 
drawn through the blower, should it slip from the hand 
while being polished, as this would very likely damage the 
work and might injure the blower if the piece drawn into 
it were of considerable size. 

Oiling the machines is another item that is very often 
given too little attention in the polishing room. All bear- 
ings should be oiled daily; sometimes twice a day is better. 
All oil cups, when possible, should be provided with covers 
in order to keep out particles of emery and metal, which 



3§ 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 




Fig. 12. Light buffing lathe for general purposes. 

if allowed to penetrate into the boxes will imbed themselves 
in the babbit or other soft metal of the boxes and soon form 
a regular lap, such as machinists use in working hardened 
steel. When this happens the spindles are, of course, soon 
cut so badly that rebabbitting is necessary ; if they are 
allowed to cut very frequently, you will soon need a new 
spindle. Cotton waste should be placed in the oil cups 
wherever possible, and it should be changed whenever it 
gets dirty, thus catching and removing the grit before k 
can enter the bearings. Cotton batting, being finer, is 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 39 

preferred by some, as it makes a better filter for the dirt. 

Countershafts in the polishing - room seldom, if ever, re- 
ceive the attention they should have in oiling. This work- 
is usually given to some careless or inexperienced person, 
who usually finds it an unpleasant and difficult task, if 



Fig. 13. Cupola lathe, <>r dead center lathe, which has extended 
use among cutlers, gun makers, etc. 

done properly ; so, as a general rule, the oil is poured on 
the box rather more than in it, thus soon causing loose 
and noisy countershafts and spindles of the lathes. 

Emery Wheels. — Emery or corundum wheels are used 
principally for removing the gates or spurrs from castings 
and any other rough places which may have been 
caused by a greater or less breaking away of the 
sand in the mould before the metal has been poured into it. 
They are made by taking a sufficient quantity 
of the sifted powder, mixing it with a cementing material, 



4° 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OE METALS. 




Fig. 14. Flexible shaft for grinding and polishing heavy castings. 

called a bond, pressing the mass into moulds under 
great pressure, and then baking the wheels thus made 
until they are thoroughly dry. The wheels are des- 
ignated in the same way as the powdered emery or corun- 
dum from which they are made; thus, an 80 wheel is one 
that is made from No. 80 emery powder, etc. Different 
manufacturers use different bonds, and the wheels will vary 
slightly in their adhesive powers and the facility with which 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OP METALS. 




■ST 
Fig. 15. Spindles of various types as used in polishing lathes. 

they will glaze over when used with too much pressure or 
too much speed ; they will also vary in the extent to which 
they will soften and break or crumble, if they are unduly 
heated by being run too fast, or with too great a pressure 
of the work upon the wheel. When this is the case some 
one is liable to get hurt. I have seen part of a large emery 
wheel go through a twentv-inch brick wall, after bursting, 
and I can assure the average polisher that he is likely to get 
into the hospital, if he does not use due care in handling 
his emery wheels. I have been thus explicit because I 



4 2 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 




THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



43 



find that many polishers and machinists think that their 
emery wheels arc a natural stone, quarried out and turned 
into shape, and also because they do not understand the real 
danger that exists in running wheels too fast and the differ- 
ences between wheels of different makes, or even of two 
wheels from the same maker. All makers of emery and 
corundum wheels publish tables showing the safe speeds 
ul which their wheels may be run and it is never safe to ex- 
ceed these published speeds. This applies especially to the 
larger wheels. These wheels should always fit the spindle 




Fig. 17. Belt strapping machine for benches. 



snugly, so that they will have a true balance and great care 
should be taken to see that the wheel is firmly and securely 
fastened before starting to work with it. When large 
emery wheels are used, it is a good plan to fit a rubber or 
leather washer on each side of the wheel, between the wheel 
and the flanges ; the washers should be a little larger than 
the flanges, so that when the nut is tightened the pressure 
of the flanges does not come directly upon the wheel, but 
upon the intervening washers, thus reducing the liability 
to crack or injure the wheel from the pressure. 

It is also dangerous to allow large emery wheels to get 
out of balance while in use, by becoming gouged out or 
worn off in spots. 



44 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OP METALS. 



An emery wheel dresser should always be at hand to turn 
down the wheels in order to keep them balanced. It is also 
required to turn them down a little when they become 
glazed, which they are liable to do when they are 
run too fast, or with too heavy pressure; or when 
used continually they must be occasionally dressed off 
with the emery wheel dresser. In using this tool keep it 
well oiled. Run the wheel at its regular speed, set the rest 
firmly about level with center of the wheel, and far enough 
from it so that when the claws of the Nool are hooked over 




Fig. 18. Light Polishing Lathe for Bench. 

its inner edge, the points of the cutters will not quite touch 
the wheel when the tool is held level. Bring the cutters in 
contact with the wheel by firmly and gently raising the han- 
dle of the tool as the high and uneven pieces are cut down. 

In using the tool, pass or slide it slowly back and forth 
against the wheel, using less pressure when cutting down 
the corners or turning to a sharp bevel. 

If the wheel is glazed or slightly out of true, only touch 
it lightly, or the fast cutting of the tool will unnecessarily 
waste the wheel. 

Hold the tool in such a manner that the cutters will re- 
volve with the wheel and in line with its motion. If fire 
flies, it is a sure sign that the wheel is grinding away the 
points of the cutters, because of their running with want of 
oil, or an improper position of the tool. Emery wheel 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



45 



dressers and diamond turning tools are usually kept locked 
up, in charge of the foreman, to prevent undue waste of 
the wheels. 

In grinding castings, especially small ones, which heat 
quickly from the friction of the wheel, a tub or pail of cold 
water should be at hand, into which the castings may be 




Fig. 19. Foot Power Polishing Lathe. 

immersed from time to time, until cooled, when the grinding 
can continue. 

In grinding rough, heavy castings, the first operation is 
usually upon a coarse, solid emery wheel which is run at a 
slow speed, not more than 1,000 revolutions per minute. 
This wheel is used mostly for removing gates of castings 
and burrs or other rough and uneven places upon the cast- 
ings. If no exhaust fan is used, a glass or metal shade 



46 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

should be placed over the wheel in order to prevent the par- 
ticles of emery and metal from flying into the face and eyes 
of the workman, as such particles are extremely rough and 
sharp, and are difficult to remove from the eyes after getting 
into them. If such a piece is once imbedded into the eye, a 
visit to a doctor may be necessary before it can be removed 
and the eye is liable to be swollen and very painful for 
several days after the foreign substance has been removed 
from it. It may even prevent the sufferer from working 
for several days after the accident. 

When small pieces of metal become imbedded in the eye 
they may often be removed by another workman in the 
following manner : Seat the injured person in a chair fac- 




Fig. 20. Etnery Wheel Dresser. 

ing the light, and stand back of him, so you can see without 
obstructing the light. Take a horsehair, or a hair from a 
hair broom, and after cleaning it well with water and draw- 
ing through a clean rag with a little alcohol on it, bend it in 
the form of a loop. Have the patient hold his eyelids back 
with both hands, or the lids will involuntarily close. Lay 
the loop on the eyeball at an angle of 45 degrees, and pass 
it back and forth over the eyeball until it meets the obstruc- 
tion. When you have found it, give a sharp, quick pull, 
and the piece of metal will usually come out easily. It is 
well to always have on hand a few pieces of horse hair for 
this purpose, and also a bottle of eye water made up as 
follows : 

Sulphate of zinc. 2 grs. 

Chloride of sodium 4 grs. 

, Distilled water 4 ozs. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 47 

After removing the foreign substance, two drops of this 
water should be placed in the eye and the eye closed for a 
few minutes. If the eye is inflamed use the eye water every 
hour, two drops at a time, until all inflammation is gone. 

Grasp the casting firmly and hold it flatly against the 
wheel where it is to be ground, using a light pressure so as 
not. to gouge the work or grind too deeply. The work 
should not be held in one position upon the wheel for any 
length of time, as in that case it would become very hot, but 
the work should be moved about, turned over and ground 
in different places, as required, coming back to the unfin- 
ished places after they have had time to cool. 

With continuous use the solid emery wheels soon become 
glazed over upon the grinding surface, causing the wheel to 
cut slowly. In this case the emery wheel dresser should be 
used, holding the wheels of the dresser lightly against the 
face of the wheel until the glaze is removed. This is also 
the method of truing up the face of the wheel when it be- 
comes uneven, and also of turning up the face of the wheel 
to reach into special patterns, such as the mouldings of stove 
castings. 

Solid emery wheels are used very little in the polishing 
room, except upon the rougher castings in iron or brass. 

Canvas Wheels. — Next come the roughing-out wheels, 
which, on castings or any other rough or heavy work not 
requiring sharp corners, or sharp edges, is usually a canvas 
wheel, set up with No. 60 emery. Canvas wheels are usu- 
ally called "roughing-out" wheels; they are very useful in 
most shops, and indispensable where the work is in the 
rough, such as castings of iron or brass, and must be worked 
down. A canvas wheel set up in 60 or 70 emery is usually 
the first operation in polishing rough castings, 
after the casting has been trimmed up and the gates re- 
moved by the use of a solid emery wheel. While the can- 
vas wheel has a great many uses, it is not adapted for all 
work. For instance, on parts of machinery, tools, and the 



48 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

like, where sharp edges and square corners are necessary, 
the leather covered wood wheel is best. As the canvas 
wheels are soft and pliable, the face is usually not flat ; 
therefore it is hard to keep the corners of the work square 
when using these wheels ; but for a first operation on ordi- 
nary work they are unexcelled. They may be made in the 
shop, if desired, by using heavy canvas or duck, cutting out 
the discs and gluing or cementing together a sufficient 
number of the discs to make the wheel of the required thick- 
ness. Care should be taken to turn the discs carefully about 
in gluing up, so that the direction of the threads of the 
warp and woof of the cloth will run different wayi> in dif- 
ferent sections, so that the wheels will not ravel out easier 
in certain directions than in others; otherwise the wheel 
would wear square-sided. All wheels and buffs made up 
of round sections should have this point carefully looked 
after, as the life of the wheel and the quality of the work 
depend on it. If the reader will cut a round piece of muslin 
and then start to ravel it out, he will see how much easier 
it is to pull out the threads where they run parallel with each 
other than it is to do it where they cross each other at the 
circumference of the disc, and that wheel will wear longest 
which has this point most carefully observed in its making. 
After gluing the wheel should be put under heavy pressure 
until dry, when the hole may be bored to fit the arbor snugly, 
using a sharp auger, which must be kept at right angles 
with the sides of the wheel, for if the hole is not straight 
the wheel will wabble when it is put on the arbor. After 
boring, the wheel is put on the arbor and its edge is turned 
up true with a wood-turning tool, or an old file, sharpened 
so as to use it as a chisel. Then the wheel may be set up 
with emery, as described for a wood wheel. 

It is usually cheaper to buy these wheels, as they are 
made in the factories in large quantities, and under the 
most favorable conditions, so that a much better wheel is 
the result. Canvas wheels made with either glue or cement 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



49 



may be purchased. There is very little difference between 
them; the cement wheel is more elastic, not so liable to 
come apart, lasts longer and costs a little more. 

For emergencies, a very good home-made wheel may be 
made by taking several sections of hard-sewed buffs, glu- 
ing them together, putting under pressure until dry, turn- 
ing down with an old file, emery stick, or a piece of solid 
emery wheel until the face is even, and then setting up with 
glue and emery. 

In using canvas wheels, if on large work, the operator 
gets a firm hold upon the work and uses considerable pres- 
sure, either with the arms, or by putting the stomach against 
the work to get the pressure. Several of these wheels 
should always be kept on hand ready to use, as they wear 
out quickly on heavy work. They should be cleaned off 
and set up as fast as they are worn out, in order to have 
plenty of time to dry before being used again. 




iliil 
Fig. 21. Wood Wheel. 

Wood Wheels. — For particular work, where sharp cor- 
ners and straight edges must be preserved, a canvas wheel 
cannot be used to advantage, as they have a tendency to 
round off corners and sharp edges, on account of their soft- 
ness. For roughing this particular class of work, a leather- 
faced wood wheel should be used, set up with 60 emery. 
Having a firm, smooth surface, it will not gouge out or 
round off edges as would be done by the more flexible can- 
vas wheel. 



5° 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



Wood wheels are usually made from well-seasoned pine 
lumber, free from knots or flaws, and one inch thick. The 
sections are cut out round with a saw, having each section 
of the same diameter as the others. In making up the 
wheel, use enough sections to get the desired thickness and 
crossing the grain of each section in gluing up, using very 
hot and rather thin glue. The glued sections should then 
be put under heavy pressure for twenty-four hours, to dry. 
After this a number of holes should be bored through the 
wheel, about one-fourth of an inch in diameter, into which 
are driven wooden pegs large enough to fit snugly, the holes 
and pins being both well glued with very hot glue before 
driving. 

A hole is then bored in the center, large enough to take 
the iron mandrel hole, which should have flanges on either 
side large enough to be firmly imbedded into the wheel, 
so that their outer surfaces are flush with those of the wheel 
and firmly secured by screws. These iron collars and man- 
drel holes may be purchased from any dealer in polishers' 
supplies by those who prefer to make their own wheels. 
After the flanges or collars are secured, the wheel is next 
put on the spindle of the lathe and turned down level and 
smooth, which may be done with an old file, sharpened for 
use as a wood-turning tool, and using a piece of board that 
stands as high as the spindle for a tool rest. Care must be 
taken not to allow the tool to gouge in too deep, as the 
wheel may be spoiled. Thin cuts should be taken evenly 
across the face of the wheel until it appears to be flat and 
even, when it should be finished smoothly with fine sand 
paper, wrapping the paper over a file, so that it will present 
a uniform surface, and applying it to the surface of the 
wheel while it is still in motion. To find out if the wheel is 
perfectly true, use a piece of chalk or a soft lead pencil on 
the tool rest in place of the turning tool, holding it firmly 
upon the rest so that it will barely touch the face of the 
wheel. If the wheel is true it will leave an even mark en- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



tirely around the wheel; if not true, it will be marked only 
in places. When the wheel is perfectly flat and true, it is 
ready to receive the leather covering-, which should be of the 
best oak-tanned sole leather. The wheel should now be 
sized; this is done by applying thin, hot glue to the face of 
the wheel until it has been thoroughly and evenly covered ; 
the quickest way to do this is to hold the brush against the 
face of the wheel and revolve the wheel slowly bv pulling 
on the belt with the hand ; as soon as it is well covered, start 
up the lathe at full speed, when the surplus glue will be 
thrown off the wheel by the motion. The wheel should be 
allowed to run until the glue becomes dry ; then sand paper 




Fig. 22. Wood wheel Cover Clamp. 

should be applied gently, to remove all surplus glue, leaving 
a smooth, glazed surface upon the face of the wheel, to 
which the glue applied to hold the leather will adhere firmly. 
Now have the leather cut the proper width. It should be 
a little wider than the wheel and a little longer than will go 
around the wheel. Tut the wheel in a vise and apply hot 
glue for about one-fou r th of the way around ; anply the 
squared end of the sole leather and fasten it on the wheel 
with a shoemaker's awl. a light hammer and wooden shoe 
pegs. Put a peg in each upper corner of the leather; then 



52 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

attach a weight to the lower end of the leather, to keep it 
under strain. Now tack on the leather as far as the glue 
has been applied, putting the pegs about two inches apart ; 
turn the wheel in the vise, apply more glue and more pegs, 
and repeat the operation until the leather is on ; have the 
ends of the leather meet evenly and closely ; then more 
pegs may be applied, until they are not more than one inch 
apart all round the wheel. 

We illustrate elsewhere a wood wheel cover clamp, re- 
cently invented by a practical polisher, which is finding favor 
with the trade. It consists of two iron bars, bearing sharp- 
ened steel points on the inner edges and held parallel to 
each other by hand screws at each end. It is used by glu- 
ing the wheel all the way around, separating the bars a little, 
applying the sole leather clear around the wheel and apply- 
ing the clamp to the two ends of the leather by means of the 
inclined pointed teeth of the clamps. Tightening the screws 
then strains the leather over the circumference of the wheel 
easily and quickly, when pegging may be proceeded with 
on the greater part of the circumference. The time gained 
and the ease of operation make it a favorite tool when once 
tried. 

The wheel should now be dried thoroughly, then turned 
down a little, both edges and face, sand papered and sized 
with glue as before. Finally, sand paper off the surplus 
glue and then set up the wheel, which is done as follows : 

Setting Up Wheels. — Place a mandrel in the hole in the 
wheel, long enough to project on each side and serve as a 
handle; any piece of pipe or a round piece of hard wood 
will do ; it should fit the hole snugly, so that the wheel will 
not wabble when you are rolling it in the emery. Then 
apply hot glue to the surface of the wheel, taking care not 
to leave any dirt or hairs on the surface of the wheel. Also 
see that the glue is of the proper thickness — about the 
thickness of molasses is best; if it is too thick, too much 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 53 

glue will be applied, and if too thin it will not hold the 
emery well. After the hot glue is evenly and quickly ap- 
plied to the entire working surface of the wheel, it should 
be thoroughly rolled in powdered emery of the desired 
grade several times, using light pressure, until the surface of 
the wheel is thoroughly and evenly covered. The wheel 
should then be allowed to dry for eight to ten hours without 
any artificial heat, when it will be ready for service. 

Where much polishing is done, great care is necessary 
to keep the different grades of emery from getting mixed 
with each other. Each grade should have its own box, 
which should be provided with a hinged cover and have the 
number of the emery plainly marked upon the box. The 
boxes should be of such shape and size as to permit of the 
wheels being set up, or coated with emery, without remov- 
ing the emery from the box. A long, narrow box, quite 
shallow, is best. The different grades of 'emery are also 
carried from wheel to wheel by the glue brush, unless great 
care is exercised ; for instance, a man may set up a wheel 
with No. 60; the next man may want to set up in 120 or 
150; consequently, by using the same brush, he is bound 
to get some of the coarse emery upon his wheels, thus caus- 
ing much trouble in the finishing of the work. The only 
way to entirely avoid this would be by having separate glue 
pots and brushes for each grade. This would do very well 
for large shops, but for small plants it is sufficient to use 
care in setting up wheels. It is a good plan to set up all 
flour emery and fine emery wheels first, setting up the 
120, 90, 70 and 60 wheels in their order, and then the brush 
should be thoroughly washed out in water. In this way, 
getting coarse emery mixed with fine emery upon the 
wheels will be avoided. 

One of the most important articles used in the polishing 
room is glue; if not properly applied it will result in a con- 
siderable loss in time and in emery and glue wasted. It 
is requisite that the polisher have a glue that is perfectlv 



54 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



uniform, flexible, and of great adhesive strength. The 
very best glue that can be procured should always be used 
for setting up polishing wheels, as inferior glue will not 
hold the emery and stand the pressure and heat of grinding 
and polishing, but soon comes off. In preparing the glue 
for the wheels, add cold water enough to cover it and soak 
until thoroughly and evenly softened clear through. Flat 
glue should soak several hours ; ground glue should soak 
from fifteen to twenty minutes in cold water before cooking. 
When sufficiently softened, heat it gradually in a water 
bath, or a steam kettle. Never dissolve glue with boiling 
water, as the hot water scalds the glue and destroys a large 
portion of its adhesiveness. It should never be heated above 
the boiling point of water, as the excess of heat will injire 
it so that it might as well be thrown away at once. This is 
why glue kettles are all water- jacketed, and the man who 
tries to hasten matters by lifting the inner kettle out and 
placing it on the fire is wasting his time and wasting his 
glue. When it is desired to save time in soaking glue, it 
should be put to soak early in the day, in a separate pail 
or jar; this allows the glue pot to be used during the day, 
while giving the glue plenty of time to become thoroughly 
softened. When this is done it will be found that the glue 
has absorbed nearly all the water necessary to dissolve it, 
and it will be much stronger, will flow easier, and will hold 
better. The best method of heating glue and having it 
always ready for use is by means of iron steam- jacketed 
pots. The glue kettles rest in a separate heater, and the 
heaters are fitted with upright arms to support the wheels 
while being glued; this brings the work over the pot and 
allows the surplus glue to drop back into the pot instead of 
on the floor. When not in use glue brushes should always 
be kept in water; never allow them to stand in the pot, 
or to dry while full of glue. It is worth while to take 
pains enough to keep the brush soft and in good condition 
to spread the glue quickly and evenly; the difference be- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING <>!• METALS. 



55 



tween a poorly set-up wheel and one that is properly done 
will show in your work. 




Fig. 23. Wheel Washer. 

Care of the Wheels and Their Use. — Wood wheels 
are used extensively on any work for which a hard and 
firm wheel is required, they may be set up in any grade of 
emery from the coarsest to the finest, When the emery 
begins to wear off, they arc washed, if the establishment 
has a wheel washer. 

By placing the worn wheel in this machine, and letting 



56 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

it run at twenty or thirty revolutions per minute with the 
water just touching the rollers, all of the glue and emery 
will be removed without damaging or loosening the leather 
covering. The wheel should then be taken out, wiped care- 
fully, and put away to dry thoroughly, after which it is 
again set up with emery. Other patterns have a row of 
rods near the bottom to prevent small wheels from falling 
over. The idle roller has two positions for different sized 
wheels. 

As it requires no attention or time to use it, the price of 
the machine will be saved in a few weeks' labor, and you 
will have more and better work because of better wheels. 

Or the old emery and glue may be removed by means of 
an emery stick, or buff stick, as it is also called. This stick 
is made by applying alternate layers of hot glue and forty 
or sixty emery to a stick of wood until a solid stick of emery 
is formed. The emery stick is applied with light pressure 
to the wheel while it is in motion and in this way the old 
emery and glue are soon removed from the wheel. Care 
must be taken not to burn the leather coating or facing of 
the wheel by too hard or steady pressure with the buff 
stick. When the wheel is clean, it should be set up again 
with glue and emery, as first described. All the old emery 
and glue should be removed before setting up wheels again, 
as, if a patch is left on one side, it is liable to throw the 
wheel out of balance. 

Balancing Wheels. — To balance a wheel place in the 
hole a mandrel that is a snug fit and allow each end of the 
mandrel to rest on the edge of a level piece of steel that is 
shaped to have a knife-edge. Care should be taken to see 
that the knife edges are level and parallel to each other. If 
the wheel is not true, it will turn until the heavy side is 
downward ; this should be tried several times to make sure, 
marking the lowest point lightly with chalk, or a lead pen- 
cil. Then a small piece of lead is tacked or screwed on the 
wheel directly opposite the part that points downward. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING Ob METALS. 57 

Now the wheel is again rolled on the knife edges, as it is 
very easy to get too much or not enough weight on the 
wheel at the first attempt to balance it, and the operation is 
repeated until the wheel stops indifferently in any one of 
several positions, when it will be in balance. All polishing 
wheels should be kept in balance, as it acids to the life of 
the wheel and to the lathe. It is impossible to do good work 
if the wheel is much out of balance and pounding, as it im- 
parts a wavy look to the work, besides unnecessarily fa- 
tiguing the polisher. In such a case the emery will be 
worn away from the wheel on one side while it is still good 
on the other and thus the polisher will be getting but half 
the work he should out of an imperfectly balanced or untrue 
wheel. 

Grease Wheels. — After cutting down the work on one 
of the wheels described it is gone over the second time on 
the "grease wheel." Grease wheels are usually made from 
wheels that have been worn smooth in polishing and do not 
cut freely; but it is necessary that the face of the wheel 
shall present a uniform surface, not having the emery worn 
off, or chipped up in places. Grease wheels are made only 
from wheels set up in 120 emery, or finer, and may be made 
on wood, leather or felt wheels, as desired, by applying 
grease or oil to the wheel while it is in motion, followed by 
a little fine emery cake or paste. A convenient way of ap- 
plying the oil without getting too much of it on is to roll up 
tightly a piece of cloth, saturate the end with oil and apply 
it to the wheel as required from time to time. Some pol- 
ishers use a piece of tripoli polishing cake for making 
grease wheels instead of the oil. as it usually has sufficient 
grease in it for the purpose. This, however, is open to the 
objection that it is easy to get on too much and the grease 
will then not retain the polishing powder, making the work 
much slower than if oil and emery alone were used on the 
wheel. 



58 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

Dry Fining. — If very fine work is required the polisher 
goes over the work a third time upon the same wheel, with- 
out the use of any oil or grease, and this process is known 
as dry fining. It consists in going over the work with very 
light, even pressure on a very smooth wheel of fine grain ; 
as use tends to roughen the surface of the wheel and thereby 
interfere with obtaining a very high polish, a piece of char- 
coal is held lightly against the surface of the wheel from 
time to time, going evenly over the surface, followed by a 
piece of fine, even-grained hard flint or porphyry, until the 
surface of the wheel again becomes smooth and glazed, 
when polishing is resumed. The use of the charcoal and 
flint stone maintains a surface upon the wheel that will give 
the very best results. A flint, or finishing stone, as it is 
called by some polishers, is a little piece of personal prop- 
erty owned by nearly every polisher who is fortunate 
enough to get hold of one. Lump pumice stone is the 
proper thing to use in removing the grease from the grease 
wheel, preparatory to dry fining, or the glaze from the 
finishing wheel after concluding the operation. It will 
sharpen immediately any wheel set up with emery that does 
not cut well. The lump pumice is applied to the wheel with 
light pressure, a little at a time, until the wheel has been 
evenly gone over and the dull or glazed spots have all dis- 
appeared. 

Endless Polishing Belts. — These are made for use on 
the belt strapping machines, Figs. 16 and 17. They are 
made of canvas, duck and woven cotton, being had in any 
width and length, from three-eighths of an inch up to 
twelve inches wide, from the regular stocks, and wider ones 
have been sometimes made to order. They are set up with 
glue and emery in the same way as canvas and leather 
wheels and used in the same manner. Two flanged pulleys 
are required to use this belt, the flanges being necessary to 
prevent the constant side strain from moving the work 
across the middle of the belt, resulting in throwing it off 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 59 

the pulleys. The driving pulley is generally, the larger, as 
the belts are run pretty loose and the extra surface is 
needed on that side; the idle pulley is made small for con- 
venience, as people and work are constantly passing near 
it. The driver is fastened on the spindle of a lathe and the 
idler put on a swinging standard which is bolted to the 
floor at a suitable distance, and controlled by a curved 
ratchet and pawl, operated by a lever, as will he readily 
understood by a glance at the illustration shown. 

It is not necessary to remove all glue and emery from 
these belts when they become worn. They may be cleaned 
up with a piece of lump pumice stone while in motion and 
then removed, glued and set up with emery. When the 
belt becomes rough from too many coats of emery and glue, 
so that it begins to chip off. all the old glue should be 
soaked off and the belt dried and set up anew. It is a 
good plan to put them upon pulleys while drying. The 
belt strapping outfit is very desirable in the polishing of cer- 
tain kinds of brass and iron goods, where ordinary wheels 
cannot be used to advantage, such as cycle fittings, brass 
cocks and upon inside surfaces where wheels cannot enter. 
They arc also valuable for tubes, long pieces which would 
interfere with the workmen at other lathes and for cutlery. 

LEATHER Wheels.— There are many kinds of leather 
wheels, all having their uses. Some polishers prefer one 
kind for a certain class of work, some another, but a good 
polisher, if he does not have just what he wants, will usu- 
ally get along with what he has, provided that there is a 
variety to choose from. 

Walrus Wheels.— As indicated by the name, the wal- 
rus wheels are made from the tanned hides of this animal. 
As they are comparatively scarce and the leather ranges 
from one-halt inch to one and a halt" inches thick, making 
it difficult to thoroughly tan, these wheels are naturally 
high priced, but being almost indestructible they are, in 



60 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

the long run, a cheap wheel. They are used chiefly in pol- 
ishing cutlery, hardware and tools, where fine work is re- 
quired. They may be turned up in different shapes, as 
best suits the work at hand, or they may be grooved to 
fit rods, balls or screw heads, etc. They may be set up with 
glue and emery for cutting down, greasing and dry fining, 
or used without glue and emery, as finishing wheels, cro- 
cus or rouge being substituted for the emery. Care should 
be. taken to avoid turning down these wheels, as it 
would be a waste of valuable material. These wheels 
are usually sold by the pound, already cut in the 
size desired, but large cutlery manufacturers and others 
who use considerable of this leather frequently buy an en- 
tire hide and cut their own wheels. In this way, by care- 
ful cutting, very little waste is made, as all the small pieces 
are useful for making polishing bobs for small places and 
inside work. In buying walrus wheels already cut care 
should be taken to see that they are of as nearly equal thick- 
ness all round the circumference as possible. Of course, it 
would be impossible to get this kind of wheel of the same 
thickness all through, owing to the nature of the leather, 
but care should be taken to avoid getting a wheel very 
thick on one side and thin on the other. Also avoid, if 
possible, wheels with deep creases or wrinkles running 
through them, as they spoil the edge or face of the wheel. 

Bull Neck Wheels. — Bull neck wheels are made from 
the neck portions of sole leather hides, but, being so much 
thinner than walrus leather, thick wheels have to be made 
up in layers, and the leather lacks also in the finishing qual- 
ities and durability of the walrus hides. Being much 
cheaper, however, it is used extensively on bicycle, stove 
and other iron and steel work. 

Sheepskin Wheels. — Sheepskin wheels have a variety 
of uses. They are made up of layers similar to a canvas 
wheel, by gluing or cementing the leather discs together 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 6l 

and turning up into the proper shape, after which they are 
set up with emery. Those wheels arc of no value to use 
as finishing" wheels without glue and emery, as are walrus 
and bull neck wheels, on account of their being made up of 
so many sections or layers, as they will spread and come 
apart under the pressure and heat of the polishing opera- 
tion. For a soft and durable cutting down or greasing 
wheel, however, they have a steady, though somewhat lim- 
ited sale. They are made in two qualities, hard and soft. 

Compressed Leather Wheels. — Compressed leather 
polishing wheels are made by forming a rim or felloe for 
the wheel, of sole leather piece!: cut by a die to a previously 
determined shape, and holding them in place by compres- 
sion between two steel discs which form the hub or center 
of the wheel. They are made hard and soft and have had 
considerable use on account of the fact that they can be 
made any width, can be turned up in any shape and can be 
refilled when the sections are worn out. It is a very satis- 
factory wheel where it suits the work, but can never re- 
place walrus on fine work. 

Compressed wheels are also made up with canvas instead 
of leather sections. They have the advantage of not split- 
ting or coming apart, as canvas wheels sometimes do, but 
are more costly and have not found general favor on that 
account. 

Felt Wheels. — Of all the materials used in the differ- 
ent kinds of polishing wheels felt is in the most general 
use and makes the very best general purpose wheel. It can 
be used for roughing, grinding, polishing and finishing, 
and when the glue and emery are removed and a little 
crocus, rouge or polishing compound is applied it brings 
out the highest polish and best color on nickel plated arti- 
cles, especially of iron or steel. These wheels are very de- 
sirable in buffing stove work, where the background is a 
dead white and it is desired to keep it so. If we use the 



62 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

ordinary buff, the background, or chased work, is readily 
filled up with the rouge, or buffing compound, and dirt 
from the wheel, so that it must be washed out with lye and 
a stiff brush. If we use the felt wheel and a little rouge, 
or some of the compounds known as white rouge, or white 
coloring^ compounds, being white, it does not show if any 
should adhere to the work. If a little care is taken the work 
may be buffed on the felt wheel without getting any dirt 
in the white background. In buffing nickel in this way, 
after the pieces have been gone over thoroughly, a little 
whiting or Vienna lime may be applied to the work and a 
little also to the wheel, and the work gone over lightly 
again. This removes all grease and finger marks and gives 
a white finish which is almost impossible to obtain in the 
ordinary way, with the regulation cotton buff. This mode 
of finishing is not necessary for brass goods or for the 
cheaper class of work and is not recommended for them, as 
it takes more time than finishing with the cotton buff. 

In using felt, walrus or leather wheels for any purpose 
they should be run with the nap. Many persons using pol- 
ishing wheels do not know that these wheels have a nap, 
but they have, and it is very important that they should 
be run with the nap and not against it, in order to secure 
the best results in work and the life or durability of the 
wheel. Before putting on a felt wheel, rub the finger along 
the face and side of the wheel,, first one way and then the 
other. You will discover that it feels rough one way and 
smooth the other. The wheel should be run so that it has 
a tendency to smooth the felt instead of roughing it. When 
once ascertained which way it should be run, it should be 
marked with an arrowhead pointing the way it should go, 
this can be done with a pencil or small paint brush, on each 
side of the wheel. Then the wheel should always be run 
in that way. 

In using felt wheels for polishing care must be taken 
not to use too heavy or too steady pressure, especially on 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 63 

large and heavy work where considerable pressure is nec- 
essary, as under such circumstances the wheel is liable to 
catch fire under the surface coating of glue and emery and 
smoulder away for some time, eating a long hole in the 
wheel, so that it looks as if it were worm-eaten, when you 
come to turn off the emery preparatory to setting up the 
wheel again. This firing may not be suspected by a care- 
less polisher until the wheel gets out of balance and begins 
to pound, or it may be discovered by eating along the sur- 
face until the coating of glue and emery breaks through. 
Many wheels are fired in this way" when turning off the 
old coating of glue and emery with the buff stick prepara- 
tory to setting up, if the work is hastened by using too 
much pressure. Such a wheel must be turned down to the 
extent that the fire has eaten it and it will readily be seen 
that the loss is considerable. 

There are several grades of felt wheels, both white and 
gray, and it is cheapest in the long run to buy the best 
grade of white felt, known to the trade as Spanish felt. 
This costs more than the other grades, but is undoubtedly 
the cheapest and best in the end, as it lasts longer and 
gives far better results than the cheaper grades ; in fact, to 
use the cheap gray felts is throwing money away, as they 
do not hold the emery and glue well, are too soft and spongy 
for good work and there is a great waste of felt in turning 
down, which is not the case with the best white felt. 

In setting up felt wheels it should be done in the manner 
described for leather and leather-faced wood wheels. First 
get the wheel turned down to the proper shape. It should 
run smoothly and evenly, if properly balanced. A felt 
wheel may not pound or chatter and yet not be running true. 
To find out if it is running true, take a piece of chalk or a 
soft pencil, use a piece of wood standing on the floor for a 
rest, and hold the chalk in one position firmly on the rest, 
very close to the wheel, so as to barely touch it. Then re- 
move the chalk, stop the lathe and examine the wheel; it 



64 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

it be untrue it will have the chalk marks only on a part of its 
circumference, whereas, if it be true they should be found 
all around it. To remedy this, loosen up the nut and turn 
the wheel half-way around on the spindle, tighten the nut 
and try again. If it is still out it must be turned down until 
right, using a chisel made of an old file, or a buff stick, 
and finishing with sand paper on a flat stick. Then the 
wheel is coated with hot glue while on the spindle, started 
up immediately and allowed to run until the glue is dry, 
when it should be partly turned off and smoothed down 
with sand paper on a stick. Now remove the wheel, apply 
the hot glue thinly, evenly and quickly ; roll the wheel in 
the proper number of emery, using a mandrel through the 
hole for a handle. Allow the wheels to dry slowly and nat- 
urally. Wheels are usually set up at the close of the day's 
work and allowed to dry over night. In case of emergency, 
the wheels may be dried on steam pipes or in ovens, but, 
if dried too quickly, the glue cracks and chips off, thus spoil- 
ing the wheel for use until again set up. 

Felt wheels set up in 120 or 150 emery are often used for 
roughing; then, by the adding of a little grease or tripoli 
to the same wheel, they are used again on the same work, 
as grease wheels. Then, by using charcoal on the wheel and 
a flint stone (which every polisher should possess) to apply 
to the face of the wheel while using the charcoal, the same 
wheel may be used again for the last, or finishing, operation 
on the work. By the free use of charcoal and a smooth 
flint stone to a good 150 or flour emery wheel the best fin- 
ishing wheels are made for iron or steel. When the surface 
of the glue and emery is chipped or worn off it should never 
be used as a finishing wheel; one that is perfect all round 
is best. Then, by applying lump pumice stone, the glaze 
and grease may all be removed, and you have a sharp wheel 
again for polishing or cutting. 

Methods of Work. — In the roughing out, or first opera- 
tions in polishing, the work may be polished all one way, or 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 65 

crossed by each successive operation, according to the class 
of work, using the most rapid means of getting it to any 
kind of an even and smooth surface; but in the finishing 
operations, from the grease wheel to the finishing wheel, 
the polishing should be all one way, which will permit the 
work to take on a high polish sooner than if each operation 
crossed the previous one. The work should be held on the 
wheel at about the middle of its lower front quarter ; any 
other position would be wrong and dangerous, as in holding 
the work too high or too low on a wheel of any kind it 
is liable to catch on the wheel and be knocked or jerked from 
the hands of the operator ; this is especially true in the use 
of buffs. If the work be plain, no serious damage may be 
done by this ignorance or carelessness, as the case may be; 
but if the work happens to be a piece of chandelier, a scroll, 
or a bracket, or any other complicated piece, the result may 
be serious, both to the polisher and to the work. 

To grind or polish a surface requiring straight edges and 
sharp corners, it is necessary to have a wheel with a smooth, 
flat face, running perfectly true. No bouncing or shaking 
of the wheel can be permitted. 

In polishing, the work should always be held firmly in the 
hands, using gentle and uniform pressure in holding it up 
to the wheel. When applying the work or removing it from 
the wheel, do so abruptly and firmly ; that is, do not remove 
it gradually, as it is apt to let the work be touched on a 
sharp edge or corner, which is the thing to be avoided. Long 
practice and an accurate eye are the essential things to keep 
sharp corners and straight edges in polishing. 

The length of time for one operation, or the time to use a 
wheel, is usually until the coarser marks left by the previous 
wheel are removed. Thus, when the work has been run over 
by a 60 or an 80 emery wheel the next operation is usually 
with a 120 wheel until all the 60 or 80 marks disappear and 
only 120 marks remain ; then it is ready for the 150 emery, 
or grease wheel, as the case may be. 



66 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

If a man is working on small or fine work, he usually sits 
down to his work, as it may be handled more comfortably 
and more accurately while sitting. If the work is large or 
heavy, he can do better work and more of it while standing. 

In large shops where the same class of work is handled 
continually, say a bicycle shop, for instance, one man 
works altogether on sprockets ; another on handle bars ; a 
third does nothing but cranks, and so on. Each man has his 
own special wheels in different sizes and shapes to suit his 
particular work. He takes on his day's work in the morn- 
ing, usually a certain number of pieces, and puts them 
through one operation after another until the whole are 
finished ; that is, he puts the entire number through one op- 
eration before changing wheels and proceeding to the next 
stage. In this way a good nolisher is usually able to double 
his output in three or four months from beginning on that 
particular piece of work, as by daily practice he comes to 
know just where and how he can make time on that partic- 
ular piece. 

If he has plenty of wheels to carry him through the day's 
work he usually sets up his wheels in the afternoon, after 
finishing his day's polishing ; if he has but few wheels, it is 
wise, and often necessary, to set them up as fast as they have 
become worn off, so as to be ready for the next operation. 

It is the most common practice for each man to keep his 
own set of wheels and look after them ; also to carry his 
work through from start to finish. Where one man does 
one operation and passes his work along to the next there is 
usually too much criticism and fault-finding with each oth- 
er's work, and this may be carried to a point where it is 
subversive of all good feeling between the workmen in the 
shop, and is, of course, injurious to discipline and hampers 
the output of the work. Every good polisher likes to have 
his own set of wheels, and when he gets them set up and 
broken in to suit him he guards them closely ; this is neces- 
sary in order to keep his wheels for his own use, especially 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING O* METALS. 67 

in large shops where many a workman is inclined to borrow 
his neighbor's wheel when he is not looking rather than 
set up his own. Polishers usually aim to set up their wheels 
for the next day's work in the evening, just before quitting 
time, as that gives the wheels all night in which to dry ; this 
is always the case when the men are employed on piece work. 
In this case a good many wheels are required by each work- 
man, and the number and kind will vary according to the 
class of work upon which he is employed ; but he should 
be provided with a sufficient quantity of suitable wheels, so 
that it will not be necessary for him to break in upon his 
day's work to set up wheels for that day. 

Tubing or round iron rods are always polished cross-wise 
— never lengthwise; if the piece be too long and heavy to 
handle easily one end may be put in a sling, made by attach- 
ing a rope to the ceiling and having the loop so that it will 
hold the work at the same height at which the workman 
holds it in polishing, so that it will bear on the full width 
of the face of the wheel, which it might not do if one end 
were higher than the other. By having the rope close 
enough to the wheel nearly all the weight may be supported 
by the rope for half the length of the piece, when it should 
be turned around and work begun at the other end, the two 
operations meeting in the middle. In this way great freedom 
in handling long pieces may be obtained and the speed cor- 
respondingly increased. 

Brass chains, such as plumbers' chain, dog chain, key 
ring chains, etc., very often require plating and polishing; 
these chains often cause accidents to the inexperienced 
workmen. The best and safest way to polish a piece of 
chain is to take a piece of broom handle, or other round 
stick, about twelve or eighteen inches long, drive a nail in 
one end, letting the head protrude half an inch ; hook one 
end of the chain over the nail ; then wind tightly, holding 
one end of the chain in the hand and polishing the part 
held on the stick as you would a piece of tubing ; when 



68 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



one side is polished, unwind, turn the chain over and repeat ; 
when both sides have been polished repeat the operation 
with another portion of the chain until it is all done. 

Musical instruments, especially cornets, are quite difficult 
to polish. As the metal is often quite thin, care must be 
taken to avoid cutting through or denting the instrument. 
For this reason large wheels are seldom used, as there is 
great danger of the instruments catching on the large buffs, 
which must be avoided, as an instrument is very easily 
ruined in this way. For polishing before plating, small, 
hard buffs and tripoli should be used on the plain portions 
and small leather bobs, used on the end of the taper, should 
be used on the difficult places, where the buff cannot reach ; 
where neither buffs or leather bobs can be used, a strip of 




Fig. 24. Pieced or Sewed Buff. 

cotton to which tripoli and oil have been applied may be used, 
running it through the space to be polished and pulling it 
back and forth quickly by holding ends of the cotton in each 
hand while the instrument is held between the knees, or 
by an assistant. 

Buffs and Buffing Compositions. — Buffs differ from 
the numerous wheels we have described in two ways: they 
are almost invariably of loose sections of cloth, so that they 
will spread out on the work to be polished in a degree vary- 
ing with the stiffness of the sections, the speed of the buff 
and the pressure exerted by the operator ; they are used 



THE POLISHING AND 'I.ATIXl, OB Mil VLS. 69 

without glue and emery — its place being taken by various 
kinds of polishing compositions which are held against the 
burring wheels from time to time to set them up during the 
progress of the work. They are used for cutting down and 
polishing work after it has been fined with emery, or for 
work on which emery cutting is not needed, such as sheet 
metal, machine parts that have been finished all over before 
coming to the polishing room, etc. They arc of many kinds 
and qualities, from the firm, hard buff, cut from heavy, hard- 
twisted, closely woven, unbleached muslin to the softest, 
loosely woven canton flannel, used for coloring gold work. 
They are made from muslin bought from the mills espe- 
cially for the purpose, and they are made from the scraps 
left from cutting shoe linings, odds and ends from shirt 
factories, overall factories, the spoilage from cotton mills, 
and the pieces left from cutting buffs out of whole cloth. 
A pieced buff is always sewed, either spirally or in con- 
centric circles with whole pieces on the two outer sides of 
the section and the center of the section made up of a num- 
ber of layers of pieces cut in the shape of segments of a 
circle and crossing each other in such a way as to be rea- 
sonably uniform in thickness ; the stitching ravels out in use 
and permits the layers of cloth to spread until the next row 
of stitching is encountered. In this way the stitching serves 
two purposes ; it holds the various pieces of which the buff 
is made up and it stiffens the buff so that it will stand up 
to its work without being run at an excessive speed. 

Many platers have erroneous notions about buffs ; some 
of them invariably buy the lowest-priced buffs in the mar- 
ket, with a mistaken idea that they are economizing thereby ; 
if approached in regard to the higher-priced article, they 
will tell you how many sections they are using per month 
and declare that they could not think of paying the higher 
price, as the profits in plating are so small that it is m 
sary to economize in ever} direction, etc. Now the I 
are that a buff will do work exactly in accordance with the 



70 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

amount of long, hard twisted fibre in it. When a dealer 
in cloth is approached with an offer on muslin he pulls out 
a small magnifying glass, called a linen tester, puts it on 
the cloth, counts the number of threads per inch in the cloth, 
looks at the size of the individual threads and their distance 
from each other, estimates the amount of starch and gum 
with which the cloth is loaded, and finally ravels a few 
threads, untwists them and looks at the length and strength 
of the cotton fibre in the threads of which the cloth is com- 
posed. If the piece is heavily loaded, he makes a mental de- 
duction from the price per pound asked for the muslin ; 
if the thread has a large percentage of short fibres in it, 
he makes another, because he knows that the strength is 
not there and the cloth will not wear well. The plater, on 
the other hand, with few exceptions, looks merely at the 
price per section and the salesman who offers the lowest 
price per section, by an eighth or quarter of a cent, gets 
his order. Of course the goods are made up so that low- 
priced sections can be offered to people who insist upon 
buying them, and such buffs are invariably the most costly. 
The plating supply houses cannot be blamed for doing this ; 
they have been forced into supplying low-priced buffs for 
bargain hunters, and cotton is as staple a commodity as iron 
and the price is subject to less fluctuation, so that a reduc- 
tion in price is always accompanied by a similar reduction 
in quality. Most of the supply houses have high class buffs 
at a corresponding price, and they prefer to sell these goods, 
knowing that they will give better satisfaction to the user ; 
the labor cost in making them is about the same on all buffs 
and the higher price simply buys more and stronger cotton, 
instead of gum, starch and short fibre. The experienced 
buyers have proved this many times. Perhaps it may be 
well to give the results of a trial which took place within the 
writer's knowledge: the house in question (a large stove 
concern) was accustomed to buy about 10,000 sections per 
month of a fourteen cent buff when it employed a book- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 7 I 

keeper who had recently been in a dry-goods concern which 
had a large wholesale trade in muslin. He found fault with 
the buffs, and the salesman to whom he complained prompt- 
ly produced a twenty-four cent buff of the same size, and 
after some argument got a trial order for them. In the 
test which followed the twenty-four cent buffs wore as long 
as three buffs of the fourteen cent sections which they had 
been using. In other words, twenty-four cents' worth of 
first-class muslin did as much work as forty-two cents' 
worth of poor muslin, and the saving on the firm's monthly 
bills was very considerable. The plater who will learn to 
distinguish between good and bad buffs will be able to effect 
a considerable economy in the matter of buffs alone if his 
firm does any considerable amount of work, as they are con- 
stantly being used up, and mistaken notions of economy 
are liable to make a steady leak in the way of useless ex- 
penditure. 

The size of buffs is another question that will bear study. 
A buff cuts fastest when it is being run at a speed that will 
make it stand up stiffly ; in other words, the buff is held to 
its work best when the centrifugal force of the rotation holds 
the periphery of the buff farthest from the center. The 
larger the buff the greater the peripheral speed will be with 
a given number of revolutions of the lathe spindle. As the 
buff wears down it becomes smaller and the number of 
inches per minute passing over the work is correspondingly 
reduced, until it reaches a size where the fastest speed to 
which the lathe spindle can be set fails to give a sufficient 
number of inches of travel to the outside of the buff to make 
it cut properly. When this point is reached it should be 
thrown away and a new one substituted. Cutting down 
buffs should run at from 9,000 to 15,000 feet peripheral 
speed per minute; perhaps 12,000 feel is a fair average. 
Coloring buffs should run from 5,000 to 8,000 feet per min 
ute. The amount of work turned out is less with a small 
buff than with a large one in any given time; if the shop 



72 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

is crowded with work and the polishing room is behind 
the substitution of large wheels and buffs will frequently 
speed up the work so as to make the addition of more lathes 
and men unnecessary. Where there is a lack of room for 
additional machinery, or polishers are difficult to obtain, 
this is often the only way out of the difficulty. Then, too, 
where the polishers are paid by the day and the proprietor 
is always complaining of the number of new wheels and 
buffs furnished the polishing room, the men are apt to con- 
tinue to use wheels long after they should be thrown away. 
It is a common sight in such places to see the men holding 
work against a three-inch buff or wheel, laughing and talk- 
ing and spending an hour over work that should and would 
be done in twenty minutes with a fourteen-inch buff. In 
such cases the proprietor is losing every day, in the wages 
of the men, more than enough to provide an entire set of 
new buffs for the shop. 

This question of size may be carried to extremes, how- 
ever, as it is possible to get buffs so large that they cannot 
be cut economically from the muslin, on account of the in- 
creased waste from the spaces between the large circles on 
such large buffs, and the maker charges more per pound for 
such increased sizes. There is a fad in Milwaukee for 
eighteen-inch buffs ; this is not an economical size ; other 
places like sixteen-inch buffs, believing that more work can 
be done with them at a lower speed of the spindle than with 
smaller sizes ; nothing is gained, we believe, in such ex- 
tremes ; it is an even thing as to power consumed in re- 
volving a large buff at a lower speed or a smaller buff at a 
higher speed. The wear on the spindle boxes is easily re- 
paired by rebabbiting, and the power expended in the work 
is the same, while the lower price per pound of the fourteen- 
inch buff makes it the most economical size to buy in the 
majority of cases. If the lathe countershaft has cone pulleys 
with a sufficient number of changes of speed, buffs can be 
worn down quite small with economy, and this point should 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 73 

always be looked to in fitting' up a shop, or in adding lathes 
to an existing polishing room. There is generally enough 
work that demands small buffs in any jobbing shop to make 
it desirable to have a fast spindle on which they can be eco- 
nomically run ; meantime the large stove shop, or other 
special plant, must decide for itself whether it is cheaper 
to throw away small buffs or to stand an increased outlay 
in wages and power for using them up. It is impossible 
to economize beyond a certain point in such cases, because 
decreased expenditure in one direction means a slowing 
down of the output and increased expenditure in others. 

Sewed Buffs. — The muslin buffs made up in sections 
and sewed in a continuous spiral are used mostly for cut- 
ting down or buffing heavy work in iron or brass. As many 
sections may be used as required to get the desired thick- 
ness. Either emery paste or tripoli is used, according to the 
class of work being done. After the wheel is put on the 
spindle, if it does not run evenly, projects in places and 
has ragged edges, as such wheels usually do, it should be 
started up and combed out or evened up with the point of 
an old file. 

Whole Buees. — These are made of muslin of either 
bleached or unbleached cloth, and have the sections sewed 
or stapled only around the arbor hole. They are used for 
many different kinds of work which require less pressure 
than can be given by the sewed buffs, such as buffing brass 
copper or bronze goods, and also for buffing plated goods 
of all kinds, except gold and silver. In buffing copper or 
its alloys, to remove grinding and polishing marks and 
scratches, tripoli in the form of cakes or bars is generally 
used, applying a little to the wheel every few minutes while 
in use by holding the cake lightly against the wheel I 
second or two and then withdrawing it and proceeding with 
the work. In case the work is quite rough, or has deep 



74 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

scratches or pinholes, the cutting of the buffs may be facili- 
tated by dipping the tripoli into kerosene before applying it 
to the buff. In order to avoid covering the buff with grease 
and thereby hindering the progress of the work and wasting 
material, the polisher should understand that all the various 
polishing cakes he will use consist of varying sizes of pow- 
ders, which have been put into kettles and stirred up with 
mixtures of soap, wax, tallow and oil and then run into 
moulds and allowed to cool. The soap, tallow, wax and oil 
are so proportioned to each other and to the amount of pol- 



\ \ * \ ^ I I I 

Fig. 25. Medium Buff. Fig. 26. Soft Buff. 

ishing powder that they will hold the powder on the buff and 
furnish a lubricant for it while it is cutting the metal. Now 
if the polisher attempts to hurry his work by using lots of 
polishing cake, or if he is careless in applying it and holds 
the cake against the wheel so long that he gets too much on, 
the heat generated by the buff rubbing the metal will melt 
the composition and the powder will fly off without doing 
any work, while the grease will remain and saturate the 
cloth of which the buff is composed. In a very bad case 
polishing will be next to impossible, and the more cake he 
uses the worse off he will be. Of course he will blame the 
manufacturer of the polishing composition which he may 
happen to be using when the fault is entirely his own. If 
the work comes away from the wheel looking dirty and 
greasy, instead of clean and bright, you are using too much 
composition and not doing the work with the speed that you 




THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 75 

should. You should understand thoroughly that you cannot 
charge a buff heavily with composition without getting into 
immediate trouble. A little composition applied for a sec- 
ond or two lightly against the cutting face of the buff and 
repeated when the buff slows up in cutting, leaving the work 
clean and bright, is the proper way to use it, and any other 
way will only waste time and composition. When a buff 
has been thus greased it should be cleaned by holding a 
stick or an old file against it until the gr2ase has all been 
tawen off ; then by applying the composition lightly and 
quickly the buff may be worked back into good condition 
again in the course of ten or fifteen minutes. 

When the work is sufficiently cut down to suit it may be 
finished for plating or lacquering, as the case may be, by a 
similar wheel, except that crocus, rouge, or white buffing or 
coloring compound should be used in the place of tripoli. 
The same wheels should not be used, as a general thing, for 
cutting down and finishing; there should be a separate 
wheel for each operation in order to obtain the best results ; 
still, in case of emergencies, the tripoli wheel may be used 
for finishing by first thoroughly cleaning it with an old file 
or other suitable tool. 

The same class of wheels and material is used for finish- 
ing plated goods in nickel, brass, bronze and copper ; less 
pressure is used in order to prevent cutting through the 
plate; also less rouge or buffing compound, for the same 
reason. In buffing plated goods during the last operation 
the work should be buffed one way as much as possible. 

Cottox Flannel Wiikels. — These are used chiefly in 
polishing sterling silver and silver plate. White buffing 
compound, or some similar Eorm of "While Rouge," as 
these white polishing compounds are called in the trade, is 
used quite extensively on silver, as it <^els a very good pol- 
ish and has the advantage over rouge in that it does not fill 
up all cracks and crevices in the work as rouge does ; still, 



'jG THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

rouge has the preference in many shops, polishers sometimes 
being prejudiced against anything but the old and well- 
known methods that they know will give results. 

Rouge. — Rouge is used in two forms, hard, or stick rouge, 
and soft or powdered. The hard rouge is usually used first, 
to remove any fine scratches and to put on the first polish, 
but for the final finish, or color, soft rouge, mixed to a thin 
paste with alcohol and water (half and half) is used. It 
is applied to the work and a little to the wheel with the 
finger ; it is not necessary to use much of the paste. If the 
dirt or rouge sticks to the work in places rub on a little of 
the wet paste to the spot and buff again. The buff may now 
be cleaned out with the point of a file and the work gone 
over again lightly, which should give a clean surface and a 
beautiful polish. A little coal oil is used by some instead of 
alcohol and water; also ammonia and water can be used as 
a substitute; alcohol and water in equal parts is in most 
general use however, and gives good results. 

Rouge is put up in two or three forms and in many 
grades. It is one of the oxides of iron, like crocus, and the 
finer qualities have extensive use as polishing agents in 
all the finer varieties of metal working. Gold rouge is 
the finest and most carefully floated powder, as the gold 
is very soft and easily scratched if any coarse powder be 
allowed to become mixed with the paste or stick intended 
for that metal. It is used in sticks and in the powdered 
form, mixed with alcohol and water. Silver rouge is 
coarser, not having been floated as long as the gold rouge. 
They are practically the only polishing agent used in fin- 
ishing gold and silver after plating, partly on account of 
the color being most suitable and also because of the read- 
iness with which they may be graded in the manufacture, 
so as to- avoid scratches. Nickel rouge is the same sub- 
stance, but not of such fine quality ; this is used in the hard 
form and usually has a little more lubricant in the composi- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS 77 

tion of the stick, as nickel is so hard that it requires more 
polishing than silver or silver plate. 

Gold and gold plate are finished in the same way as silver. 
Both gold and silver plate should he burnished in order to 
give the best results, as the pressure of the burnisher tends 
to harden and perfect any spongy or porous deposits of the 
metal, and so leaves the whole coating harder and enables 
soft metals, like the richer alloys of gold, or pure silver, to 
resist wear better. However, they may be and often are 
finished on the buff without burnishing; but for good work 
it is necessary that the plate be first burnished before buffing. 

In polishing watch cases and jewelry many different kinds 
of wheels and brushes are used, the most common being 
small bristle wheels, which are used for polishing the gold 
article with tripoli to remove scratches and also with hard 
rouge for finishing. Many small buffs are also used which 
are made of cotton flannel, felt, raw hide, chamois skin, etc. 
The latter are used especially on watch cases, both for tripoli 
and rouge buffing. 

All gold and silver work, after being finished on the buf- 
fing wheel, is usually washed out with hot soap-suds, to 
which a little ammonia has been added, then rinsed in hot 
water and dried in boxwood saw-dust, or with clean, soft 
rags, as the case may be. Boxwood saw-dust is used be- 
cause it will not discolor articles with which it comes in con- 
tact, as many of the other kinds of saw-dust will do with 
metals that are easily affected, such as the cheaper alloys of 
gold and sterling or pure silver and many copper, brass and 
nickel alloys. Hence it is always better to pay the price 
for boxwood dust rather than risk spoiling the work and 
having to do it all over again. Rags for the finishing may 
be old bed sheets, or any thoronghlv bleached and partly 
worn muslin, which must be clean and dry. 

In polishing steel or iron emery paste is used. This is 
fine emery made into a cake by the use of oil, tallow and 
wax. It is applied to the wheel in small quantities, eithi 



78 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

emery grease wheels or to the cutting clown buff for iron 
work, and greatly facilitates the labor. 

Tripoli. — Tripoli is usually mixed with tallow and bees- 
wax, all being melted and mixed well together and run into 
moulds of a handy size and shape. The tallow furnishes 
the necessary lubricant, while the beeswax gives the compo- 
sition its adhesive qualities. It also assists in the cutting 
and polishing operation to a great extent ; therefore beeswax 
in excessive quantities in the mixture makes a very rapid 
cutting composition, but if too much wax is used, it is 
liable to adhere to the work and is hard to remove, while 
an excess of tallow or grease will retard the polishing or 
buffing operation and cause the work to become greasy or 
dirty. 

Crocus. — Crocus is usually mixed with tallow and oil, 
just sufficient being used to make it into cakes and furnish 
sufficient lubricant. Crocus is in general use for finishing 
steel goods, especially where a high finish is required, such 
as fine cutlery, tools and surgical instruments. It is also 
very useful in finishing brass or plated goods, especially 
nickel. In buffing nickel that is slightly burned or very 
heavily plated, crocus will be found to give excellent re- 
sults, as it has sufficient cutting power combined with its 
polishing or finishing qualities to give quick and good re- 
sults in the hands of the skilled workman. 

White Buffing Compounds.— These are put up under 
various names, and differing degrees of fineness of the pow- 
ders and varying composition of the lubricant, so as to 
adapt them to- the various classes of metals. They are sold 
in cakes and have extensive use in buffing brass, nickel and 
silver plated work. They give a whiter finish than rouge, 
cost about the same and have extensive uses where the 
white color is an object, especially where there is engrav- 
ing or chasing that is liable to be filled up by the use of 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 79 

rouge. Rouge is not desirable in such cases, as it readily 
nils up the background and must be washed out with hot 
lye, soap-suds and ammonia. In doing this the brushes are 
liable to scratch a fine piece of work and where it is to be 
lacquered any rouge left on the article will show up badly 
and is liable to be spread by the lacquer brush and dis- 
color the work. White buffing compound does not fill up 
the background nearly so much as rouge, and any portions 
that may be accidentally left on the work are not nearly so 
conspicuous as rouge and are more easily removed. 

Vienna Lime. — This is sometimes used in buffing nickel 
and silver; to be of any value, however, it must be used 
while slacking, and it being almost impossible to keep it 
on hand in any quantity without its slacking in the air, it 
has not come into general use. Recently, however, manu- 
facturers have overcome this difficulty by pressing it into 
bars which are dipped into paraffin wax and then wrapped 
in paraffin paper, thus making it airtight until used. It 
is being rather extensively employed in watch factories in 
this form and is said to be meeting with considerable favor 
for polishing steel work. It disintegrates with slight pres- 
sure and slacks in the air while doing so, thus giving a 
chemically clean surface on the metal. 

Sand BuEFing. — Britannia metal and other soft metals 
are not polished like those which we have described, as such 
treatment would roughen, melt, or pull them out of shape. 
They are polished with small leather wheels and bobs, made 
from walrus, bull-neck or sheep skin, according to whether a 
hard or soft wheel is wanted for the particular class of work 
in hand. A box or trough is placed under the wheel large 
enough to catch the flying powder, or "sand," which is finely 
powdered pumice stone, mixed with a very little oil, so thaf 
it will not be sent flying all over the room, but not enough to 
keep it from running freely from the fingers of the operator 



8o THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

as he holds it above the work. Only enough oil should be 
used to keep down the dust — not enough to make it sticky 
or lumpy in the fingers. The polisher holds his work to the 
wheel with one hand, letting it barely touch the wheel, which 
should be perfectly balanced and true, while with the other 
he takes. a handful of the pumice and allows it to run on the 
work as it is being polished. Men used to this class of work 
soon become very expert at it and are able to keep the pumice 
continually on the work at the right place without interfer- 
ing in the least with the polishing. Care must be taken in 
polishing these soft metals not to use too much pressure 
and not to polish too long in one place, as holes are liable 
to be made, or the work melted or polished out of shape. 
The idea is to keep the work turning and moving contin- 
ually, with a quick, gentle movement. After the work is 
thus polished, it is usually washed out in soap and ammonia 
water, to' remove the grease and pumice. It is then ready 
for the plater, provided it is to be silver plated and bur- 
nished, but if it is to be silver plated and buffed, as some 
cheap work is done, or to be coppered for nickeling, or 
otherwise, the britannia should be gone over again after 
being washed from sand buffing. The second polishing is 
accomplished with the same kind of wheels, using crocus or 
rouge instead of pumice and going over the work lightly. 

Although ordinary buffs and tripoli are sometimes used 
in polishing britannia, it should not be done, as it spoils en- 
graving and chasing and drags the metal instead of polish- 
ing it. Then, too, in using large buffs at a high rate of 
speed the work is easily melted or burned. 

All lead articles and those made from its alloys should be 
polished by sand buffing, as it is impossible to get a polish 
and retain the shape of the article by using ordinary buffs. 

Sand buffing is a dirty job at the best, so precautions 
sriould be taken to have it as clean as possible. If much of 
it is to be done, a good way is to make a box large enough 
to contain the wheel and give room to handle the work, let- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 8 1 

ting the spindle of the lathe come through the side of the 
box, and having the front open towards the polisher. The 
open side of the box may be curtained, to keep the dust from 
flying about the room, but a place must be left for the pol- 
isher to see his work. Then a large apron should be made 
from a sheep skin or other suitable material ; have the bottom 
edge straight and as wide as the opening hi the box ; now 
tack the bottom of the apron to the inside of the opening 
in the box and have a strap at the top to go around the neck 
of the polisher when at work. In this way any sand and 
dirt that is thrown outside of the box when polishing falls 
upon the apron and may be returned to the box instead of 
going on the floor or on other work. 

Zinc. — Zinc may be polished in the same manner as brass, 
with muslin buffs and tripoli, first using the emery wheel 
if necessary, and finishing with white buffing compound, 
crocus or rouge. 

Scratch Brushes. — Heavy steel wire scratch brushes 
are very useful in cleaning and removing sand and scale 
from castings preparatory to plating them, such as stove 
work and other castings where the scale cannot be entirely 
removed by pickling. They are of two kinds, packed and 
swing ; the packed brush has its wires fastened evenly about 
the surface of the hub, while in the swing brush they arc 
twisted in knots and these knots are hung on a rod in the 
hub, so that they will be at liberty to turn on the rod if the 
work is held too close to the wheel. 

A swing brush should always be driven fast enough to 
make the wires stick out straight, striking the work with 
their ends, instead of dragging over it as is frequently done, 
especially where the work is held too close to the wheel, so 
that the wires do not get a chance to cut properly. After 
being run for a time the wires will be found to be bent at 
their ends in the direction the wheel has been running; the 



82 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

brush should then be taken off the spindle and put back 
with the other side of the hub next to the collar on the 
spindle, so that the ends of the wire will again strike the 
surface of the work, instead of dragging over it. The dif- 
ference in cutting will be noticed at once. A brush that is 
run too fast will crystallize the steel wires and they will 
soon break off; too heavy pressure of the work will also 
do this, making it necessary to stop and refill the hub with 
new wires, which are bought ready for insertion. 

The packed brush is subject to the same peculiarities, but 
being more evenly distributed, the wires are stiffer and will 
run longer under proper usage, although they are more 
easily broken by careless workmen and the hubs are harder 
to fill. A swing brush will reach into uneven work better 




Fig. 27. Scratch Brush for Castings. 

than a packed brush and it is generally used on such work, 
while the packed brush will cut faster and so does more 
work in a given time on surfaces for which it is suited. 
There has been a tendency lately to reduce the size of wire 
in these brushes and to make the attachment to the hub as 
flexible as possible, thus prolonging the endurance of the 
brush by adding to its elasticity. 

This has been made possible by the tendency of foundry 
practice in producing softer castings. The extent to which 
this has gone was shown in a curious way recently by an 
investigation undertaken by a large manufacturer of lathes. 
He sold a number of lathes to England, making what he 
considered a conservative statement of their capacities, based 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. S3 

on their daily performance in this country. The English 
purchaser complained that they would not do anywhere 
near the amount of work that was claimed by the manufac- 
turer and he sent over a man to teach the English machinists 
how to run them. After extensive investigation, this man 
reported that the trouble lay in the fact that the Englishmen 
were using harder castings, such as were common in Amer- 
ica twenty years ago, and that the lathes would not do the 
work that was expected of them in America, unless they 
were run upon castings that were equally soft. He also re- 
ported that they would have to strengthen their tools ma- 
terially if they were to do as much work on the hard cast- 
ings of Europe as they were expected to do on American 
castings as they are made today. This led to extended in- 
vestigations in which the iron founder came in for a very 
large and unexpected share of the credit that had heretofore 
been given to the manufacturers of American machine tools. 
Th© plater will readily see the application of this to his 
business, especially if he has ever had to handle and polish 
hard and uneven castings. 

Rattling or Tumhling Barrels. — Small objects which 
are not required to have square edges are best cleaned by 
rolling, or tumbling, as it is called in foundries. Large 
quantities of work are thus easily and cheaply cleaned with- 
out much manual labor, which is the expensive item in pol- 
ishing. If rough castings are being worked, the sand, scale, 
etc., adhering to them is allowed to remain in the barrel, and 
if the pieces are large or few in number, the dirt from pre- 
vious rollings, small scrap iron, etc., are added to them so 
as to about half fill the barrel. It is then tightly closed and 
set in motion, when the sand, scale and other matter acts 
as a polishing powder, cleaning the castings, while the small 
scrap forces the sand into hollows and crevices which it 
might not otherwise reach. 

It may not be generally known that the popular toys 



84 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

called "jackstones" had their origin in the foundry and 
are still used in large quantities by foundrymen in their 
tumbling barrels for cleaning up small irregular castings 
such as locks, keys, toys and similar small articles. 

The old practice was to have two* barrels, one solid, to 
retain the dust and sand until it had done its work, and the 
other perforated with numerous small holes, to clean and 
brighten the work after it had been rolled in the first barrel, 
and this practice is still followed today in many foundries. 
When the plater took up the device he introduced many 
modifications of it adapting it to stampings in brass and 
many other metals. For instance the manufacturing jewel- 
ers use a small barrel which is perforated and runs in a 
tank of soap suds. The work, black from the fire, is run 
in this barrel with tripoli and water until the oxide is loos- 
ened, when it is transferred to the soap suds and run slowly. 
The motion and the soap polish the work to an extent that 
is surprising. A few gross of rings run in this way will 
come out bright, both inside and out, and all dirt, metal, 
etc., will be found in the suds at the bottom of the tank. 

It is a principle in burnishing that you cannot get the 
burnished work brighter than the burnisher, so that a little 
consideration will show that bright work is only obtained 
by long-continued tumbling, thus giving time for all the 
pieces to gradually become smooth, and the bright finish 
comes rather quickly after all the pieces in the barrel have 
become smooth. It is therefore necessary to handle the 
work in batches and not to add more after the batch has 
been some time in the barrel, or the work will not finish 
evenly, and time will be lost instead of gained. The speed 
should be regulated so that the articles will have time to' slip 
about and slide down upon each other as much as possible. 
If the barrel turns too fast, they will hug the sides of the 
barrel and be carried around with it ; about 40 toi 50 revolu- 
tions is correct; if too slow, the action is unnecessarily 
prolonged. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. S5 

Tumbling barrels are of all sizes and several kinds, made 
up of iron and wood — some made of wood and lined with 
iron. For small, light work any ordinary hard wood barrel 
or keg may be used, by having it mounted on a suitable 
frame and a door cut in the side to admit the work. Many 
barrels are octagonal in shape, and give good results. A 
barrel which is much larger in diameter at its center than 
at its ends will act quicker than one that is of the same 
diameter throughout, as it gives the contents a double mo- 
tion, from ends to center and from sides to center, causing 
a thorough mixing and rubbing together of all the pieces 
contained therein, cleaning and polishing the contents 
quicker and better than any other shape. It runs with less 
noise, because the contents are moving in two directions at 
the same time, doing away with that slamming noise which 
is a feature of straight barrels. 

Where small castings or stampings are quite rough, it 
will be found advantageous to use a small quantity of tripoli 
or powdered pumice in the first rolling. After the rough- 
ness has been removed, a very high polish may be obtained 
by rolling the work for two or three hours in a barrel half 
or two-thirds full of very small leather scrap, such as may 
be obtained from a shoe factory. Greasy or oily scraps 
should not be used, as they lack the polishing qualities of 
the dry leather. Small work, such as small castings, stamp- 
ings, screws and rivets, may be given a very fine polish and 
bright luster in this way. Small work which is to be plated 
in baskets will require no further cleaning, except rinsing 
in hot potash. 

Small articles that are nickel, brass or copper plated in 
large quantities and require buffing or polishing afterwards 
may also be rolled in leather, bul the leather must be clean 
and the barrel must have a sufficient quantity "i" work and 
leather in it to make it roll smoothl) and not fall from side 
to side; in other words, it should be full. In rolling plate.' 
work, the time it should be left in the barrel will be gauged 



86 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

somewhat by the thickness of the plating; usually ten to 
fifteen minutes is sufficient to obtain a high polish ; if al- 
lowed to remain too long in the barrel, the plating will be 
polished off. The more leather you have in the barrel the 
longer it may roll and the better the polish will be; but if 
insufficient leather is in the barrel, the work will hug the 
sides of the barrel and the plating will be cut through. 

Saw dust is useful in the tumbling barrel ; it is not a very 
good polishing agent, but for removing and absorbing oil 
and grease from work from the machine shop, it is a valu- 
able assistant to precede the potash; in fact work which can 
be rolled in sawdust will not require potash unless it is to be 
plated. 

There are barrels made for rolling Castings in water. In 
these a stream of water is applied to the barrel and with- 
drawn from it through the hollow trunnions on which the 
barrel is mounted. The water applied to the work helps to 
remove the sand from the castings while not allowing them 
to tumble so hard against each other, thus giving less wear 
on elevated portions of the design of the castings and mak- 
ing a more even job. 

Another barrel in extensive use on small work is the 
oblique barrel, with the end open and the whole weight car- 
ried by one end of the apparatus. Some of these are made 
to run in one position, while others are adjustable to several 
angles. Work may be polished in these barrels either wet 
or dry. The advantage claimed for the adjustable barrel is 
that the lower the angle the more violent will be the motion 
of the castings in it, while as the work proceeds, raising the 
barrel a little from time to time reduces the amount of mo- 
tion of the work, so that the final polish is given with a very 
small amount of motion, the barrel being nearer vertical. 
These barrels are also made with a lever that permits of 
throwing the barrel forward and dumping out the batch 
of work. For wet polishing a little water is put in with 
just enough of a good soap powder to make a good thick 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 87 

lather; enough soap must be used to make a good lather, or 
the polish will not be satisfactory. After being sufficiently 
polished, the work is dipped out into the plating baskets, 
rinsed in hot potash, then in water and hung in the plating 
tanks. Small articles that have been plated may also be 
polished in this way instead of buffing. 

Necessity of a High Finish. — It is one of the cardinal 
principles in plating — and probably always will be — that an 
object which is required to take a high finish and bright 
polish after being plated must possess a high finish before 
it goes into the plating solution ; this rule applies generally 
to all classes of plating, with one exception, that being 
work which is gold or silver plated and burnished after- 
wards. In this case the plate may be burnished down into 
small scratches or lines, thus hiding them, but for all work 
which is finished on the buff or felt wheel the above rule 
applies. Every plater has often been asked if the plating 
would not fill up this flaw or that scratch. The electro-de- 
posit fills up nothing in the way of defects ; all flaws are 
seen in the plate as plainly as they were in the original. 
True, an article may take a high polish after being plated 
over scratches or other defects, but that will never remove 
them; they are still there. So, in order to have a perfect 
finish upon the plated articles, there must be a perfect base 
to work upon. It has been claimed by some that a heavy 
coat of copper from an acid or duplex copper solution upon 
iron or steel work finished upon a 120 emery wheel, may 
be polished down by buffing to hide the emery marks and 
thus render unnecessary the operations on the 150 emery 
and grease wheels ; but this does not cover these scratches ; 
it merely brightens the object, so that the marks are not so 
perceptible. 



CHAPTER IV. 

ACID DIPS AND PICKLES, THEIR COMPOSITION AND USES. 

Pickles are preparatory conveniences; they greatly facil- 
itate the work of preparing the rough castings, stampings 
or forgings for the finishing processes of polishing or plat- 
ing. There are some classes of work which do not need 
acid pickles in their preparation for the plating bath, such as 
soft metal and small novelty goods, which receive their 
preparation in the tumbling barrel; also some small brass, 
bronze and German silver goods which are to have their 
entire surfaces polished for a final finish, or for plating. But 
for the great majority of articles of copper or its alloys, or 
of the various grades of iron or steel, which are required to 
be either polished or plated, suitable acid pickles will be 
found of great value, from an economical standpoint, in the 
saving of time, labor and polishing material. 

The quantity of pickle that can be used to advantage will 
depend upon the class of work and the amount of it that is 
to be handled at one time. A vat or jar that will just allow 
of the right amount is better than a larger one, as large vats 
are harder to handle and there is trouble in recovering lost 
pieces which have dropped to the bottom of the tank. A 
fresh pickle made up as soon as the last one shows signs of 
becoming exhausted will do quicker and better work than 
one in which the acid is nearly all spent, so that the work 
is attacked slowly and perhaps unevenly in some cases. 
With the small vat the loss is also less in case of leakage or 
a broken jar. Experience in the plating room has proved 
very often that time is the most expensive thing the plater 
has to buy and it is better to keep pickles and dips as small 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 89 

as is practicable, and to renew them frequently, rather than 
to make larger ones and attempt to run them a longer time, 
as a partly spent pickle works at a much slower rate. 

For small pickles, stoneware jars may be used, (except 
with the hydrofluoric acid pickle), or square stoneware 
tanks may be obtained from the dealers in plating supplies. 
For heavy castings, stoneware has the disadvantage that it 
is easily broken by dropping a casting while putting it in 
or taking it out of the tank, in which case the pickle is a 
total loss unless it is quickly transferred to another tank, to 
say nothing of the great inconvenience of having the acid 
spilled over everything if the tank happens to be standing 
on the floor when the accident occurs. Liquor barrels 
sawed in two in the center and the hoops covered with 
asphaltum, make very good tanks for large pickles, while 
for very large work, special tanks should be made of two- 
inch oak, strongly bolted together and the exposed parts of 
the bolts well covered with asphaltum. Hydrofluoric acid 
pickles should be kept in oak tanks well bolted. 

Small work is usually handled by means of stoneware 
dipping baskets, which have bales and are provided with 
holes of varying sizes, through which the acid drains when 
removing the work from the pickle, or, if baskets are not at 
hand, small work may be strung on copper wire and hung 
in the tanks until the work is sufficiently pickled. In doing 
this care should be taken that the work is wired so that the 
flat surfaces of the work will not lie upon each other in the 
tank and thus prevent the acid from getting at such surfaces 
freely. The work should be turned over and moved about 
from time to time so as to give the acid a chance to get at 
all parts of the work freely and thus hasten the process and 
keep the action as even as possible over all of the exposed 
metal. Castings should be removed from time to time :u\(\ 
brushed with a stiff brush and wet pumice stone, to see if 
the sand and scale are loose and to remove as much of it as 
possible in this way. Or they may be taken to the lathe and 



90 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

brushed with a steel scratch brush and then examined, when 
if the desired result has not been obtained they should be re- 
turned to the pickle. 

When the pickle begins to work slowly and is full of sand 
and mud, it should be thrown away and a new one made, 
as its strength is gone and it is useless. In throwing old 
pickles into sinks or waste basins, care should be taken to 
let large volumes of water through at the same time, in or- 
der to dilute the acid, especially where iron waste pipes are 
used, as if much strong acid is allowed to run through iron 
waste pipes, they will soon be eaten through, causing much 
trouble and perhaps damage to the contents of rooms below, 
besides the expense of frequently renewing the waste pipes. 

When work drops to the bottom of the pickle it should 
be recovered with long iron hooks or tongs, never with the 
hands. 

Pickling does not change the appearance of the work 
much, unless it is left in too long, when it becomes black 
and is covered with a greasy-looking oxide. It has been 
pickled long enough when the scale and sand are removed, 
or loosened, so that they may be brushed oft ; when this has 
been accomplished the work should be at once removed 
from the tank, washed well to remove the acid, dried and 
sent to the polishing room. 

The ordinary pickle does not give off gas to any particu- 
lar extent, so that no particular precautions are necessary 
in regard to ventilation, except in the case of the hydroflu- 
oric acid pickle, for which a hood and forced draft should 
be provided. 

Fresh acid and water may be added from time to time 
to tone up a pickle and make it work faster, but when 
it becomes black and muddy it should be thrown away and 
a new one made. 

Every practical polisher and plater knows that the iron 
or brass casting that is properly pickled to remove all scale, 
sand, grease and oxides, can be polished and finished in one- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METAL. 



9 1 



half the time, at less than half the cost for polishing ma- 
terial, than would be the case if the pickles were not used. 
In fact, in some cases, it would be next to impossible to do 
a satisfactory job of polishing without first removing the 
scale. 

But pickling, like everything else, can be overdone and 
work may easily be ruined by remaining too long in them. 
Iron castings, especially those of gray iron, when left in the 
pickle too long, are liable to become spongy and porous 
upon the surface. In this case it will be found very diffi- 
cult and often impossible to remove the effects of the neg- 
ligent pickling by polishing or tumbling as the case may 
be. The acid, by long undisturbed action upon the castings, 
removes the sand and other foreign matter from the pores 
of the casting and then forms a black, greasy scum of oxide 
upon the metal, which is removed with difficulty, only to 
expose the porous and perhaps spongy surface of the cast- 
ing. In extreme cases of this kind, it is usually labor lost to 
finish such a casting, as the spongy surface extends so far 
into the metal that it is next to impossible to remove it by 
polishing and if it were accomplished it would probably cost 
more than it would be worth, while the life and shape would 
be polished out of the article, so that it would never be a sat- 
isfactory piece of work, either of polishing or plating, as 
you may depend upon it that what the polishing wheel will 
not remove the plating solution will not cover up. 

It is also very difficult to give good adhesive qualities 
upon plating which is done on over-pickled goods. Where 
the surface of the work is left spongy when it goes into the 
bath, there is always a considerable amount of acid which 
penetrates the surface of the work and will remain there 
until the action of the current forces it out into the solution 
Thus it will be seen thai plating much of this work will 
play havoc with the nickel solution, which soon becomes 
too acid, causing the plating to become very brittle and 
hard, so that it blisters and peels without any apparent 



C)2 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

cause. In such a case, where the plater has been very par- 
ticular to clean his work thoroughly, he is frequently at a 
loss as to where the trouble lies. Many platers suppose that 
potashing such work thoroughly and using the cyanide dip 
when preparing it for plating will remove all traces of acid 
from the pores of the castings, but they are mistaken. 
Cyanide and potash do not have the penetrating powers of 
the acid and consequently do not reach and neutralize it in 
the pores of the metal, so that it remains there until forced 
out by the current in the bath, where it causes trouble. 





Fig. 28. Jar for Pickles and Dips. Fig. 29. Acid Pitcher. 

The effects of over-pickling are somewhat different, but 
just as troublesome, in cyanide baths. The current will 
force out the acid as in the first case, and when it is freed, 
it combines with the cyanide upon the surface of the work, 
making a surface upon which a perfect and adhesive plating 
is impossible. The continued plating of such work will 
greatly reduce the specific gravity of the solution, by reduc- 
ing the cyanide, making the distribution of metal in the so- 
lution uneven, and causing no end of trouble which is usu- 
ally assigned to some other cause than the correct one. 

One other point should be mentioned in this connection ; 
that is the practical certainty that over-pickled articles will 
rust. Work which may look all right after plating and buf- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 



93 



fing - will peel off after a few weeks, or at the most a few 
months. When this happens the base metal will show the 
pores of the metal and will have a black and unnatural ap- 
pearance. 

Taking all these things into consideration it will readily 
be seen that it is better economy to throw any over-pickled 
work into the scrap pile at once, as such castings can never 
make a satisfactory finished product. 




Fig. 30. Dipping Basket, 




Dipping I5;i-krt . 



Pickle for Iron. — For a quick-working pickle on rough 
iron castings use sulphuric acid i part, water 4 parts; for a 
slower acting pickle intended for smoother castings and 
stampings use sulphuric acid 1 part, water 10. The water 
may be increased still more if desirable in pickling very 
smooth pieces where very little sand or scale is present. The 
pickle in everyday use for castings and wrought-iron goods 
is composed of : 

Sulphuric Acid 1 part. 

Water 4 parts. 

The acid should always be added to the water slowly, 
with constant stirring; never add water to acid under any 



94 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



circumstances, as their mixture is attended with great heat 
and if the water were poured into the acid the resultant 
heat would convert the water into steam, which would blow 
drops of acid upon the workman who is doing the mixing, 
causing serious burns ; if the acid happened to be in glass 
the unequal heat of the mixture would break the glass and 
the escaping acid would set things on fire. 

This pickle is generally used cold, but when large quan- 
tities of work are to be pickled and time is an object, it 
will hasten the operation if the pickle can be kept at about 
150 degrees F. This is done by placing the pickle jar in a 
tank of water kept hot by a steam pipe. 

The length of time the work should remain in the pickle 
depends largely upon the condition of the work itself and 
also upon the condition of the pickle, as a moment's con- 
sideration will show that the action of the pickle is that of 
sulphuric acid dissolving iron in the presence of that pro- 
portion of water which gives the acid the greatest facility of 
working over considerable periods of time, and a new 
pickle will consequently work much faster than one in 
which the acid is more or less spent (combined with the iron 
of previous castings). Some castings are comparatively 
smooth and free from sand and hence do not require as 
much pickling as those which are very rough and sandy. On 
some forgings, where the scale is very thick and hard, pick- 
ling is required for as much as two or three hours; even 
then, in extreme cases, the scale may have to be partly re- 
moved mechanically, with a sharp tool, or the point of an 
old file. 

In putting large quantities of work into the pickle at 
once, care should be taken to stir the pieces and move them 
about from time to time, so that the most exposed parts 
may not become burned while those surfaces which are 
covered or lying against each other are not pickled at all. 
In such a case you have an unsatisfactory job all around, 
part of the piece being pickled too much, part not at all, and 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 95 

the main object in pickling has been defeated. The idea in 
pickling is to easily and quickly remove the roughness of 
the scale and sand, so as to present a smooth surface over 
all parts of the work and it should be handled in the pickle 
in such a manner as to accomplish that object with the 
least expenditure of time and acid, removing the work 
from the pickle as soon as each piece is free from scale. 

Hydrofluoric Acid Pickles.— Hydrofluoric acid may 
be used to considerable advantage, instead of sulphuric 
acid, where the main object is the removal of sand from the 
castings. For a strong and quick acting solution, use: 

Hydrofluoric Acid 1 part. 

Water T 5 parts. 

For a slower acting solution, the quantity of water may 
be increased to 30 parts. 

The work should be allowed to remain in the pickle from 
fifteen minutes to an hour and a half, according to the 
amount of sand to be removed. Hydrofluoric acid dissolves 
silica very readily and also most of its compounds. The 
most common form of silica is sand, and the most common 
compound of silica is glass; hence this acid has extensive 
use in etching on glass and it cannot be kept in glass bottles. 
A hydrofluoric acid pickle attacks the sand on the casting 
and dissolves it, while the sulphuric acid pickle attacks the 
metal around the sanu and leaves the sand free to fall off, 
which it does as soon as the casting is turned over; it will 
be seen that the action of these two pickles is directly con- 
trary to each other. The hydrofluoric acid pickle may be 
used to great advantage upon either brass or iron castings 
where the removal of sand is the prime object. Great care 
must be taken in using this acid. It must be kept and used 
in wooden vessels, as it would soon destroy earthenware or 
glass. Care must be taken not to get it upon the hands or 
clothes, as it causes sores which are very difficult to heal. 



96 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

There must be good ventilation to carry off the fumes, 
which are poisonous and extremely detrimental to health. 
Oak tanks may be used without lining, or they may be lined 
with asphaltum or sheet lead. 

Dip for Iron. — For removing rust from iron or steel 
goods of any kind, a dip of pure muriatic acid is used. 
Where the goods, are not very rusty, four or five minutes 
will usually be sufficient; if badly corroded, from ten to 
twenty minutes will be required ; but this dip will remove 
the rust, no matter how thick, without hurting the metal, if 
the work is removed and thoroughly rinsed first in cold, 
then in hot water and dried in sawdust as soon as the rust 
disappears. 

Muriatic Acid Pickles. — A pickle for trie removal of 
scale from iron is sometimes made by the substitution of 
muriatic acid for the sulphuric acid in the pickle given pre- 
viously, but the results are usually not as satisfactory as 
with the sulphuric acid pickle. 

Bright Dip for Iron. — Work which has been pickled in 
the ordinary way, to remove sand and scale, afterwards 
dipped in hot water and dried in sawdust, has a dull black 
appearance. If the work is to be polished, the black will be 
removed and the color restored in the process of polishing; 
but if it is not to be polished and is to be plated, or if it is 
to be left with parts of the iron showing, the work should 
be run through the bright dip. This will bring it out white, 
improving the appearance if it is to be left unfinished, and 
tending to make it take a whiter deposit if it is to be 
nickeled. This dip is composed of: 

Sulphuric Acid .24 ounces. 

Nitric Acid .10 ounces. 

Metallic Zinc 2 ounces. 

Water .2 gallons. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 97 

Place the water in a stone or earthenware jar ; then add 
the sulphuric acid slowly, with constant stirring; cut the 
zinc in small pieces and throw it in ; then add the nitric acid 
slowly, with constant stirring, and allow it to stand for a 
few hours before using. 

Work that is to be dipped should be strung on copper 
wires so that flat surfaces do no' lie together, swirled about 
in the dip for a few seconds, rinsed in cold water then in 
very hot water, and dried in sawdust. Articles should not 
be allowed to stay in this dip for any length of time, as they 
would be spoiled and the dip ruined. All water must be 
gotten out of hollow articles before dipping, and all acid and 
water after dipping or it will spoil the dip in the first in- 
stance or tarnish the work in the second. 

Brass or bronze goods that have been brazed, such as 
picture frames, buckles and novelties, have left upon them a 
thick fire-coat which must be removed before they can be 
bright-finished, in their natural color. The ordinary pickles 
remove this coat slowly, but it may be removed almost im- 
mediately by dipping the goods into pure nitric acid (the 
power of the acid may be lessened somewhat by adding a 
few ounces of common salt) and then rinsing at once, to 
remove all acid. Then the work may be potashed, dried, 
dipped in the bright dip, rinsed in cold, then in hot water, 
?nd dried quickly in clean, hot sawdust. 

Bright Dipping.— A bright dip is one which is designed 
to obtain radically different results from the dull, or satin 
finish dips. It is so composed that the metal while cor- 
roded, is not covered with a dull sub-oxide, but remains 
bright enough to reflect the light more or less from the in- 
numerable points left by the acid, so that while we have a 
matted surface, it leaves the metal bright and shining but 
not polished. This is a favorite finish with brass workers, 
as it adds greatly to the effect when placed alongside of 
brightly polished work. Speed of operation and uniform- 



98 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

ity are the essentials in bright dipping, as the acids act very 
quickly and the longer the work is allowed to remain in the 
dip the more corroded and larger will be the granulation of 
the surface of the metal and the duller will be the effect pro- 
duced. Another very important point is the ability to keep 
water out of the dip without unduly slowing the output of 
the work. Water will convert a bright dip into a satin 
finish dip, if present in a very small quantity, thus destroy- 
ing the dip as it will no longer give the best results as a 
bright dip. If much water is present the action will be 
greatly increased in those portions of the dip which contain 
the water, and as the work is never in the dip long enough 
for the water to become evenly distributed, when some of 
it has been carried in on the work, the result will be that 
part of the surface shows much larger granulation and duller 
surfaces than those portions which were in contact with the 
acids only. Bright dips are used to obtain two or three 
distinct effects, which depend chiefly on the amount of time 
the acids are allowed to work upon the metal ; a second or 
two will give a bright effect ; twice that length of time will 
give a very bright surface; while six or seven seconds will 
give a comparatively dull effect which is almost a satin fin- 
ish. This time is given for a new dip which is working 
rapidly upon metal which is very easily corroded, such as 
the brass generally used in gas fixtures. As the dip gets 
older, the time must be increased to obtain similar effects, 
and metals which are less easily attacked must also have 
longer time. If the potash and rinsing water are near the 
boiling point, the metal will be dried quicker and will go 
into the dip hotter than if the rinsing water or potash were 
not so hot, and the amount of heat retained by the metal 
when it enters the dip will have an effect upon the work, as 
heat hastens chemical action in a very marked degree. It 
will be seen from the foregoing that no definite directions 
can be given for bright dipping, which is probably the rea- 
son that most writers on the subject content themselves with 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF -Ml-. I \. 



99 



giving the bare formulae, and leave the plater to work out 
his own salvation as best lie can. 

The bright dip for copper, brass, bronze or German sil- 
ver is : 

Sulphuric acid ioo parts. 

Nitric acid 75 parts. 

Common salt 1 part. 

Large solutions may he made up in the proportions of : 

Sulphuric acid 4 quarts. 

Nitric acid 3 quarts. 

Salt Small handful. 

After dipping the articles should be very quickly rinsed 
in cold water, then in hot water and dried in sawdust. 
Boxwood or hardwood sawdust must be used ; soft wood 
sawdust will not do, as it tarnishes the work badly. 

There is a similarity between dips and pickles in that they 
are both composed of acids, the difference being that the 
dips are usually composed of acids without any weakening, 
while the pickles are composed of acid and water, varying 
according to the circumstances of their use. 

There is a right and a wrong way of preparing the vari- 
ous kinds of work for pickling and dipping. It may be 
stated generally that work which is to be dipped should be 
dry and free from grease. It is the usual practice of plat- 
ers when bright-dipping brass or bronze goods to first hot 
potash them, then dip into hot water, swing in the air until 
dry, then immerse in the bright dip, then into clean running 
water, then in boiling hot water and finally dry in sawdust. 
This seems to be the proper method, except that it will be 
found more advantageous to swing the work dry from the 
very hot potash and transfer it immediately into the bright 
dip, not using the hot water before bright dipping at all. 
In this way the potash dries quickly upon the surface of the 
work, forming a film which protects it from the air while 
being conveyed to the bright dip. Hot water will not do 
this, but will draw away from parts of the metal and the 



1 -i r» 



IOO THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

action of the air on such exposed portions of the work 
oxidizes it, causing a surface which will not dip evenly. 
You are bound to get more or less water into the dip by the 
former method, and this must be avoided in order to obtain 
the best results, while by using the hot potash alone you 
avoid the possibility of getting water into your dip and the 
potashed work presents a better surface for the acid to 
attack, as it is more uniform, thus producing brighter and 
more even results in the finish, while the potash is imme- 
diately destroyed by the action of the acids without pro- 
ducing any apparent weakening of the dip. The addition 
of water in a very small quantity will render the dip use- 
less for first-class work. If the plater will try using hot 
potash and exclude water entirely before dipping he will 
not revert to the old way of doing things. 

Care must be taken to keep the different dips and pickles 
from getting mixed with one another. Work that must go 
from the pickle to the dip or from one dip to another should 
be rinsed in running water and hot water and swung dry be- 
fore going to the next dip, as the drippings of one dip or 
pickle getting into another very often cause trouble. 

If much of this work is to be done it should be performed 
in a separate room or shed, or if that is not convenient the 
dips and pickles should be kept in one place and have a 
projecting hood over all of them with an outlet through a 
chimney to draw off the acid fumes, or it would be better 
still to have the pipe leading from the hood fitted with a 
suction fan. The vat containing dips and pickles should 
be boxed in with the hood with a sliding door in front, 
which can be shut tight at the close of the day's work, as 
when the fan stops running the acid fumes would fill the 
room and tarnish and rust all metal goods and machinery. 
This is, of course, for large establishments which are 
doing the same class of work all the time, such as gas fit- 
tings, brass beds, harness trimmings, furniture trimmings, 
cabinet hardware or other lines which have a standard fin- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. IOI 

ish for their work, which is obtained by dipping and which 
have enough of it to make it profitable to fit up properly for 
the health and comfort of the men. The small jobbing shop 
using a dip of ten gallons or under will not go to this ex- 
pense, and such dips should be kept in earthen or stoneware 
jars, which are made for the purpose and provided with 
closely fitting covers of the same material. Such dips 
should always be kept covered when not in use, both for 
cleanliness and to keep the fumes of the acids from con- 
taminating the air of the plating room. 

Satin Finish Dips. — While it seems almost unnecessary 
to define so common a thing as the term "satin finish" has 
become in the plating and jewelry trades, still we will do so 
for the sake of completeness, just as we have particularized 
on other things in a way that is totally unnecessary to the 
man who is at all competent in the business. The object 
in writing at all is to tell those who are daily entering the 
business the reasons of the things they see as daily matters 
of course, very often without in the least understanding 
what is going on before them, because everything seems 
to be taken for granted by those about them and they are 
ashamed to ask for fear of being thought dull of compre- 
hension. Satin finish in plating is generally used to define 
the appearance of an article which, instead of being polished 
all over, is finished as if it were to be bright, and is then 
given a very finely matted appearance. This is accom- 
plished in several ways — in the acid process it is accom- 
plished by dipping the bright object into a composition of 
acids which will evenly corrode it all over, giving a dull, 
matted surface, which is even and smooth to the eye, but 
is without gloss or shine; it is made by holding the object 
in the sand blast; and also is produced on soft metal 
scratch-brushing all over with a steel wire scratch brush, 
before or after plating. It varies in the amount of the luster 
allowed to be retained by the bright metal from none at all 



102 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

to a very perceptible shimmer, which shows through the 
dull surface produced on the metal. Very beautiful effects 
are produced by thus varying the amount of sheen allowed 
on the object and the expert satin finisher is able to produce 
a depth of color and a softness which are exceedingly ef- 
fective when the articles are to have a final dip, which gives 
another color than that which is due to the metal of which 
they are composed, as, for instance, in giving a black or 
gray finish to copper or gun metal work, watch cases, etc. 
Satin finishing is almost entirely a matter of personal skill 
and experience, as is generally the case with the simplest 
processes. The object to be attained is, first of all, evenness 
of finish, not only on the object itself, but also on all of the 
entire batch of work to be done. This is not so easy as it 
looks ; not only must the work be perfectly clean, so that 
the acids will take hold evenly, but the operator must have 
a strong sense of time, as the acids take hold instantly, and 
a second or two longer in the bath will make a very appre- 
ciable difference in the appearance of the finished work ; 
the amount of swirling or moving about in the llath wilk 
have an effect on the evenness and amount of corrosion ; 
the speed with which the work is passed from the dip to the 
rinsing water and the amount of water used to rinse in will 
show also; a fresh dip will work faster than an old one 
which has spent a portion of its strength; the heat of the 
metal, which is dipped hot from the potash or rinsing water, 
will also affect the speed of the corrosion. Now a moment's 
study will show that two persons will rarely perform all 
these operations exactly alike, and this is the reason why 
one plater will rarely be able to finish satin-finished or 
bright-dipped work exactly like another, and this difficulty 
will increase with the number of dips which must be given 
in finishing the work. It is for this reason that the dipping 
is usually given to one man in an establishment, as it is 
more important that the work shall be finished alike than 
that it shall be the finest attainable. Skill in dipping con- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 1 03 

sists in watching all of the points mentioned above and in 
being able to perform them with a machine-like regularity, 
so that a dozen or a gross of work shall not have marked 
differences in the final finish. This is especially the case 
with small work, which is turned out in quantity, thrown in 
a heap and put on cards in dozens afterward, as it would 
not do to have a difference in finish in one or two articles 
on a card of one dozen. It would also show up prominently 
if the sugar bowl of a tea set were satined more or less than 
the other pieces of the set. When we come to the French 
grays, browns and blacks, slight differences in dipping have 
results which are very marked in the finished goods; and 
the difficulty is vastly increased if it becomes necessary in 
refinishing shop-worn goods to match those which are al- 
ready on the shelves. Only practice, and lots of it, will en- 
able a man to finish evenly, while careless persons will never 
learn to do it because they do not take account of small 
fractions of time in the various operations connected with 
dipping for a desired result. 

Brass work requiring a satin finish may be dipped for a 
few seconds into a mixture consisting of : 

Nitric acid 1 P arL 

Water ; 3 parts. 

Then dried and run through the bright dip to give it a 
luster. If they are not satined enough the operation may 
be repeated. Another satin dip is composed as follows : 

Sulphuric acid 2 parts. 

Nitric acid } part " 

Muriatic acid - /2 parL 

Water 5 parts. 

After which the work may be rinsed, dried and run through 
the bright dip, it necessary. Still another satin dip is: 

c , , -l 2 parts. 

Sulphuric acid 

Nitric acid 

,,. . io parts. 

Water v 



104 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



After dipping in this the work should be bright dipped. 

Ormolu Finishes and Dips. — An ormolu finish is an 
imitation of a twenty-two or twenty-four karat gold color 
on yellow brass. It has extensive use on gas fixtures and 
also on furniture trimmings, lamps, clocks and bronzes, as 
in all these cases the pure and brilliant yellow shows up very 
effectively against their darker surroundings and adds ma- 
terially to the effectiveness of the ornament. The color 
most desired is a bright, clean, clear, golden yellow, which 
must be perfectly even and brilliant, but not polished. The 
name is French and means "ground gold." It was originally 
obtained by fire-gilding brass, which was of the same color 
as the gold, but has been imitated successfully by dipping, 
until now we find that manufacturers who are still gilding 
their work to obtain the original and more durable finish 
call such work "gold ormolu." Any tinge of red in such 
work must be rigidly excluded, as the faintest shade verg- 
ing on copper will completely destroy the effect desired ; so 
also is the case with the paler shades which come from the 
zinc in the brass, although they are frequently accepted 
as ormolu by those who do not know the difference. When 
properly dipped to just the right color and degree of matting 
and thinly .plated with gold in a bright plating solution," 
with a current so regulated as to avoid all tinge of red and 
exactly match the brass under the gold, it gives a softness 
and velvety yellow which have never been equaled by any 
other finish on objects for which it is suitable. It must be 
soft and at the same time brilliant ; too much brilliance 
will make it look hard and brassy, while too much matting 
will make it look heavy and dull ; in either case the color 
is a surface color only, while with the proper softness and 
brilliancy it seems as if the color extended below the sur- 
face of the object and the hard, metallic look is gone. 

The ormolu dip may be used on bronze, oreide or copper, 
and produces a very rich, soft, velvety finish which is hand- 
some and lasting when lacquered. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 



l °5 



There are many ormolu dips in use, some giving good 
results, while others are not so good. We will give first 
those which are in most common use and give the best re- 
sults. It is considered good practice to run some classes of 
work through the satin dip before putting them through the 
ormolu dips in order to increase their evenness of finish. 
One thing which must be borne in mind is that absolutely no 
water should be allowed to get into the ormolu solution, as 
this would cause its ruin, so that pains must be taken to see 
that the work is thoroughly dried before going into the 
ormolu, and it should be rinsed off quickly afterward, first 
in cold and then in hot water. Sometimes it is necessary 
to use the bright dip after the ormolu, if the finish is con- 
sidered too dull or dead. After the work has attained the 
proper finish it is rinsed in clean hot water and dried im- 
mediately in hot sawdust, dusted off and quickly lacquered 
with ordinary brass lacquer, to which a few drops of gold 
lacquer have been added in order to get the same shade 
of color as the ormolu. This is the usual method of han- 
dling the cheaper classes of work, such as gas fixtures, fur- 
niture trimmings, etc. The better classes of goods, such as 
clock ornaments and fancy lamps, are dipped in the same 
way, but instead of lacquering after receiving the ormolu 
finish, they are given a very thin plate in a bright gold- 
plating solution, keeping the color as near the shade of the 
ormolu as possible by proper regulation of the current. 
Then a burnisher is run over the high-lights of the ornament 
in order to give a high polish on these parts and bring out 
the contrast of the ormolu in the matted parts of the back- 
ground. After this the work is ready to be lacquered with a 
lacquer as near the shade of the finished work as possible. 

An ormolu dip in common use ami which <;ives satisfac- 
tory results is composed of 

Sulphate of zinc 5 pounds. 

Sulphuric acid 15 pounds. 

Nitric acid 15 pounds. 



Io6 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

Muriatic acid 5 ounces. 

Salt peter (nitrate of potash) i pound. 

In preparing the above acid the sulphate of zinc to the 
sulphuric acid ; then add the salt peter, which should be 
pulverized ; stir well ; add the nitric acid slowly, with con- 
stant stirring; finally add the muriatic acid in the same 
manner ; stir thoroughly and let stand for some time before 
using ; to be used hot. 

Another ormolu dip which gives general satisfaction and 
is not so complicated as the previous one is as follows : 

Nitric acid (chemically pure) i gallon. 

Sulphuric acid (chemically pure) i gallon. 

Metallic zinc (scraps) % pound. 

Dissolve the zinc in the nitric acid by adding it slowly ; 
this should be done where the fumes may be carried off; 
then add the sulphuric acid slowly and stir well. This dip 
must be used hot. The jar containing it should be set into 
hot water, but great care should be taken to allow no water 
to come in contact with the dip, as there would be consider- 
able danger of the acids flying, as previously referred to, 
besides spoiling a dip composed of expensive acids. If the 
work comes out too bright add more zinc scraps, slowly, 
making sure that they have all dissolved before adding more, 
as it is easy to get in too much. If it is too dull add more 
nitric acid, stirring well and giving it time to become well 
mixed, for the same reason. 

A third ormolu is given below : 

Sulphuric acid (C. P.) I gallon. 

Nitric acid (C. P.) ^ pint. 

Muriatic acid (C. P.) ]/ 2 pint. 

Saltpeter 6 pounds. 

Pulverize the salt peter and place in the jar which is to 
contain the dip ; then add the sulphuric acid and stir until 
the salt peter has been taken up ; add the nitric acid slowly, 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



I07 



with constant stirring; finally put in the muriatic acid slow- 
ly, with constant stirring and frequent pauses in the opera- 
tion to get rid of the heat ; this work should he done in the 
open air or in a well-ventilated room. Finally stir up well 
and let stand for several days before using. This solution 
gives the best results after it has been in use for a time. 

In using dips two things are of importance. These are 
good ventilation and a good supply of water, both hot and 
cold. Where the bright dip is not too large, say one in a 
five or ten gallon crock, it may be set in a vat of running 
water, on bricks if necessary, to bring the top of the jar 
several inches above the top of the running water. The out- 
let of the vat should be an overflow stand-pipe, as described 
elsewhere, and when dipping the water should be allowed 
to run continuously in order to carry off the acid, as the 
work is rinsed in the running water just outside the jar. 
The water would soon become strongly impregnated with 
acid if the water were not kept running, and this would 
tarnish or discolor the work after it was bright dipped and 
rinsed in the acidulated water. Plenty of clean, cold water 
and also plenty of clean, hot water are essential in turning 
out good bright dipped work. Hot water that has been 
used for rinsing work from cyanide solutions will tarnish 
the bright dipped work and should not be used. By being 
particular about these details of cleanliness is the only way 
in which first-class work can be obtained in the process of 
bright dipping. 

Wooden Shoes. — Where the amount of pickling and dip- 
ping is very large and the work is passed rapidly from one 
dip to another, or swung dry from the potash and hot water, 
the floor about the pickling and dipping tanks frequently 
remains wet constantly; in bad casts the entire plating-room 
floor is so damp and impregnated with chemicals thai a 
workman whose shoes are a little thin in the soles has wet 
feet almost constantly and a bad cold, rheumatism, etc.. 



IOS THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

likely to be the result. Many a good man has refused to 
work in a place for the reason that the floor was kept con- 
stantly wet to such an extent that his health suffered from it. 
For such places a modification of the well-known Dutch 
wooden shoe has found considerable favor. This is a shoe 
having a leather upper and a wooden sole, of whitewood, 
about two inches thick, which is further raised from the floor 
by being shod at the sides and front of the sole and at the 
heel with iron, so that it will not cause the wearer to slip, 
even if the sole is wet. Such shoes, though rather heavy 
to wear until you get used to them, are of great value in 
such places, as they keep the feet dry and will save their 
owner from ruining many a fine and high-priced pair of 
shoes, as is done in the plating room every day. These 
shoes may be obtained of any dealer in platers' supplies, and 
their use is steadily growing as the platers become aware of 
their advantages. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE ARRANGEMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF THE PLATING 

ROOM. 

Whenever it is possible the plating room should always 
be on the ground floor, or if plenty of good light and ventila- 
tion can be obtained in such a location, it is still better to 
have it in a basement. Light and ventilation are of the first 
importance and other considerations are generally sacrificed 
to obtain them, if ft is necessary to do so in order to get 
them. But if other considerations permit of a choice it is 
better to have the plating room in the basement, for several 
reasons. In large plants where considerable acid dipping is 
done, there is the necessity for specially constructed waste 
and sewer pipes. These should be of either lead or copper, 
lead, being much the cheaper, is generally used ; but copper 
stands the corrosive action of acids and alkalies passing 
through it as well as lead and has the advantage of being 
much more easily taken apart and removed for cleaning in 
case it becomes clogged. These pipes should be of good size, 
at least two inches in diameter and larger if possible, and 
special attention should be paid to laying them, in order 
that they may have as few turns and bends in them as pos- 
sible ; care should also be taken to see that they do not sag 
at any portion of their runs, as all such places will form 
pockets for the retention of corrosive liquids and sediment, 
which will soon eat through the pipe at all such points and 
make its renewal necessary much sooner than would occur 
with waste pipes which are properly laid. Vitrified sewer or 
conduit pipe properly laid is better than either, where it can 
be used, but it must be plenty large enough and laid in such 
a way as to permit of taking apart for cleaning, if it should 

109 



IIO THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

become necessary, as many plating shops have been shut 
down for a considerable time by a clogged sewer pipe, which 
prevented the use of running water in the many rinsings 
which are an indispensable part of the business. 

Of course, the nearer to the ground or to the main sewer 
the plating shop is located, the smaller will be the plumber's 
bill for changing the ordinary iron pipes to those of lead or 
copper. Iron waste pipes are absolutely useless in extensive 
plants, especially those which are located above the ground 
floor, as they are continually being eaten through and caus- 
ing no end of trouble and inconvenience in the shop, as such 
things generally happen at a time when it can be least af- 
forded and brings the whole plant to a standstill until the 
difficulty is remedied. Furthermore, iron pipes rust so bad- 
ly when used for such purposes that it is next to impossible 
to remove them in order to make repairs when necessary; 
connections and elbows often have to be broken and cut off 
in such cases, generally causing considerable expense, pro- 
fanity and loss of time. 

Another reason for having the plating room on or as near 
the ground as possible is the danger of leaking tanks, the boil- 
ing over of potash or hot water tanks and the overflowing of 
cold water tanks, which arises from the overflow pipe becom- 
ing temporarily clogged up while the water continues to flow 
into the tank, as is the case in the busy plating shop. Over- 
flows frequently occur in many shops and are seemingly' 
unavoidable with the average personnel which is found in 
the trade. Where other shops or industries are located un- 
der the plating shop, leaking tubs and defective waste pipes 
very often cause the occupant of the floor below considerable 
annoyance and damage for which the owner of the plating 
shop is liable, to say nothing of his loss of sleep and peace of 
mind after he has paid a round sum for damaged goods. 

These annoyances can be practically prevented if before 
the plating plant is installed care is taken to put in the proper 
kind of waste pipes and a water and acid-proof floor. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. Ill 

Floors. — There are several kinds of floors adapted to this 
purpose. One is to lay sheets of galvanized iron on the 
floor, so as to entirely cover the ordinary floor of the room ; 
solder the edges of the plates together carefully ; turn up the 
outside edge about an inch or more ; just outside of this edge 
nail a board or cleat, so as to support the edges, thus forming 
a huge pan which is the full size of the plating room. This 
is next covered thoroughly with hot asphaltum and given a 
liberal coating of fine gravel or coarse sand while still warm. 
When this becomes thoroughly cool, it is ready to have the 
tanks put in place and the room fitted for work. 

Another very good floor is made by using roofer's tar 
paper, using several thicknesses, instead of zinc or galvan- 
ized iron, turning up the edges in the same way, and letting 
each strip overlap the preceding one about six inches and 
then applying hot tar and gravel or sand as before. 

Perhaps the best and most serviceable floor is the Portland 
cement floor. This should have the roofer's tar paper under- 
neath and the board or cleat at the edge should be from two 
and one-half to three inches in height, in order to allow of 
a liberal quantity of cement, which is mixed, one part of 
cement with three or four of torpedo sand and water, spread 
smoothly over the paper and allowed to harden. Gutters 
or drains may be made about the room, in the floor, to carry 
off the waste water. 

Where these cement floors are used a very good arrange- 
ment is to have the upper end of the main drain pipe ter- 
minate in a cement pocket or trap, which is funnel-shaped 
and has its edge even with the top of the cement floor, so as 
to form part of it. This pocket should be about eight inches 
deep and say eight inches in diameter. It should have a 
sieve or screen of wire at the bottom and should be near the 
cleaning water tanks, so that all waste pipes may discharge 
into the funnel above the screen. These pipes may thus be 
easily removed in case of clogging. When it is desired to 
clean the room, loose objects may be removed from the floor 



112 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

and the hose turned on it and the floor thoroughly washed, 
the refuse being washed and swept down to the funnel. 
Afterwards a boy may insert his hand in the funnel and re- 
move all wire and litter which has been caught by the screen. 
If the preceding suggestions are carried out, the plating 
room may be safely located upon any floor, providing ex- 
pense is no objection. It is said that a good line fence be- 
tween farmers makes good neighbors ; so a good floor in 
your plating room may or may not make good neighbors, 
but a leaky one will surely make bad ones. While the above 
arrangement may seem expensive, the expense is all in the 
first cost, and it will seldom or never need repairing. 

Tanks and Vats. — A few years ago it was thought neces- 
sary to have all wooden tanks and vats used in the plating 
room lined very carefully with sheet lead of considerable 
thickness and all joints in the lining carefully burned, no 
solder being permitted. This added greatly to the cost of 
the tanks and was attended with some distinct disadvantages, 
such as the greatly increased weight, making it necessary to 
strengthen floors under them in many instances, and the fact 
that if the anodes or work touched the lining accidentally, 
the latter, being a conductor of electricity, would divert the 
current and cause considerable trouble until the difficulty 
was found and remedied. In many such cases work which 
was being plated had to be taken out and refinished, as the 
current was off the work so long before the plater found 
the trouble that it was spoiled in the tank. Indeed, some 
old-timers still insist that lead lining is the proper thing. 
The modern plater, however, holds the belief that lining 
tanks with lead is simply money thrown away, as it gives no 
better results than the modern method of lining them with 
asphaltum and cheesecloth. 

The best tanks are made from well-seasoned pine, from 
two to three inches thick, according to the size of the 
tank, with tongued and grooved corners, and with iron 



THE POLISHrXG AXD PLATING OF METALS. 



IT 3 



rods 011 the ends. The rods should have nuts on 
one end, to draw them up tightly, as the wood will dry ou1 
considerably after it is well lined and in use for some time 
in a dry, steam-heated room. If it is a large tank, the bolts 
should be put through the bottom, horizontally, and also 
perpendicularly through the sides, so that they can be drawn 
up as shrinkage occurs. In vats of twelve feet length or 
more, a good, strong 2x4 should be nailed across the top 
before the solution is put in, in order to prevent bulging at 




Fig. 32. Tank for Plating Solutions. 



the sides, which would open the tongued and grooved joints 
at the corners. It will help matters a great deal in regard to 
possible leakages in use if a good-sized quarter round strip 
be well nailed in the corners and along the sides of the bot- 
toms of these tanks before proceeding to line them, as ex- 
perience has shown that the corners and seams are the places 
where leaks generally occur and the better we can make this 
joint in the beginning, the less likely is it to give trouble 
afterwards. 

On account of the great weight of solutions in large tanks. 



114 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

it is extremely difficult to keep them tight when made of 
timber and used for large work, as the constant movement 
of the floors on which they are supported tends to rack them 
until they open at the corners or along the bottom, generally . 
at the corners. These tendencies have led those who must 
use large tanks to consider various substitutes for wood, of 
which to make them. Probably the best of these substitutes 
thus far in use is the cement tank. It can be made of any 
size in one piece, and if well made, and particularly if well 
supported, as when resting on or in the ground, it will be 
to all intents and purposes a solid stone vat which will never 
cause trouble by leakage or breakage or rot. The merits of 
the cement tanks are spoken of very enthusiastically by those 
who have tried them. They are in use in the copper re- 
fineries of Northern Michigan, in the works of the Luxfer 
Prism Company in Chicago, and in various other places 
where large permanent tanks are desired. In the copper re- 
fineries they are used without lining, being made smooth on 
the inside by a facing of cement, similar to the finish usually 
found on the ordinary cement sidewalk. Some of the others 
have left out this cement facing and lined the rough cement 
with the ordinary composition of pitch and asphaltum which 
is used for lining the ordinary wooden tanks. When so 
made they will stand acids and alkalies as well as any other 
tanks which are similarly lined, and it is claimed that the 
roughness of the unfinished concrete furnishes a very good 
anchor for the lining, so that it will not slide down to the 
bottom of the tank nearly as soon as the wooden tank lining 
will. The large tanks in question have all been made to 
rest partly in the earth of the shop, a large hole being cut 
in the floor, a suitable excavation made for the tank, and the 
tank built into the place which has been thus provided for it, 
so that a six-foot tank will project above the floor about two 
feet. This is a very convenient method, as it obviates hav- 
ing to raise heavy pieces very high when hanging them in 
the tanks, while they project far enough to prevent any dan- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. I 1 5 

ger of work or other substances falling or being accidentally 
swept or washed into them when cleaning up the room. 
Such large tanks arc open to the objection that they cannot 
be moved when built in tin's way, but the objection amounts 

to but little, as such tanks arc seldom moved anyway, unless 
the lease of the premises is expiring, and the safety from 
leakage and from accidents caused by dropping heavy pieces 
into them is such as to many times repay the loss caused by 
having to leave the old tank in position and build a new one 
when changing the location of the shop. These cement 
tanks are also being made in smaller sizes and the following 
description of the method of their manufacture by David H. 
Browne, in the Electrochemical Industry, is so complete that 
we reproduce it herewith : 

The first requisite is a good, slow-setting cement. Slow- 
ness of set is necessary because in building large tanks it 
requires ten or twelve hours or even more to carry up the 
walls to the required height, and as the ramming must be 
continuous throughout this entire time, it is evident that if 
the bottom took its initial set before the sides were com- 
pleted it would be injured by the vibration. The cement, 
therefore, should take longer to set than the tank to com- 
plete. Cheap cement is worse than useless. Savior's ce- 
ment has proved a reliable article, but any brand which will 
stand the "pat" test will be satisfactory. 

The "pat" test is made by mixing a handful with water 
to a stiff paste and working the same on a glass plate into a 
cake about half an inch high and 3 or 4 inches in diameter. 
The surface should be troweled smooth and the sides brought 
down to a thin edge. This is allowed to stand a few hours, 
then is covered with a wet cloth and set aside in a cool place 
over night. If it sets slowly and shows no cracks on the 
surface or at the edges it will answer. 

For the best work crushed granite should be used. This 
has a rough granular fracture or "bite." into which the sand 
and cement lock better than with anv other rock. As the 



Il6 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

stone used is the weakest part, and as a good concrete, when 
broken, shows fracture across, and not around the particles 
of stone, it is important to use the best rock available. Fail- 
ing granite, a trap rock or blue diorite is a good substitute. 
The size of the rock depends on the thickness of the walls ; 
a safe rule being that no piece should be over one-quarter 
the thickness of the wall in which it is used. For ordinary 
tanks material passing through a screen i l / 2 inches, and over 
a screen of y 2 inch is satisfactory. The material smaller 
than ]/ 2 inch should be rejected, as it interferes with the 
filling of the voids. 

The solidity of concrete depends largely on the care with 
which these voids are filled. To determine the void space, 
take a pail of crushed rock, calculate the volume and find 
the weight. Add now water till the pail is full and weigh 
again. Calculate the volume of the water and simple pro* 
portion shows the empty space between the particles of rock. 
This space must be filled with sand, of which in turn the 
voids must be filled with cement. The voids of cement are 
in their turn filled by the water absorbed. Hence for strong 
concrete the common use of the formula, "4 parts rock, 2 
parts sand, 1 part cement." For less careful work a larger 
proportion of rock is often used. 

To mix the cement a tight mortar box or floor and a 
measure holding one cubic foot are needed. The rock should 
be thoroughly washed, and the sand screened from clay or 
gravel. One cubic foot of cement to two of sand is mixed 
on the dry floor to an even composition, and to this four 
cubic feet of stone are added, and the mass thoroughly 
shoveled over. Water is now added, so that, while no mud- 
diness is apparent, each particle is moist. The mass is 
again shoveled over and is now ready for the mold. 

This mold may be of any shape whatever. It is set on, a 
solid floor, with a sheet of building paper underneath so that 
the tank does not bind to the floor. The sketch shows a form 
for a commercial-plating bath. The outer frame is trued at 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 



II 7 



right angles and braced by struts to the floor to prevent bulg- 
ing of the sides under the rammer. The concrete is now 
shoveled in, a few inches at a time, and thoroughly rammed 
until the water shows at the surface. For a tank of the size 
shown three men are needed ramming and two men mixing 
and handling concrete. The tools needed are iron rammers, 
about 2 inches thick and 3 or 4 inches square, with a sleeve 
for a wooden handle. Such a tool, handled with a short, stiff 




Fig. 33. Tank Form for Cement Tanks. 



blow, is better than a lighter tool, with a springy blow, the 
idea being simply to drive out the air from between the 
particles and completely fill the voids. 

As soon as the bottom is of the desired thickness the inner 
frame is put in place and braced by cross pieces to prevent 
inward bulging. The sides are now rammed up. a few 
inches at a time. It is not desirable to lay the sides in lay- 
ers, but rather to carry them up without coursing or strati- 
fication. One thing is very important, that there be no 
stoppages. If a meal time intervenes the men should be 
relieved one at a time, so that no pause occurs till the tank- 
is completed. 

The top finish is put on bj bringing the concrete to within 
a quarter of an inch from the top of the mold and carrying 
this up with equal parts sand and cement troweled to a 



Il8 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

smooth surface. Any openings or holes in the tank wall 
are made by inserting a block of wood of the desired size 
in the side walls. After the tank is set the wood can be 
drilled or broken out. 

Three or four days should elapse before the moldboards 
are taken down. The inner frame is removed by unscrew- 
ing the angle irons shown, when the side boards will drop 
inward without any difficulty. The outer form falls apart 
on removal of the tie rods. If necessary the inner surface 
can be finished with a coat of sand and cement, but if planed 
boards were used for the molds the surface is usually quite 
smooth. 

Concrete will not stand strong acids ; caustic or chlorine 
has no effect upon it. A coating of paraffine or tar would 
help it to resist acids. It should not be subjected to sudden 
changes of temperature. If the heat be brought up grad- 
ually it will stand fire. It can be handled or lifted like a 
block of granite if ordinary care be used to prevent the tools 
from bearing against the sharp edges of the tank. 

A tank with 6-inch bottom and 4-inch sides, containing 24 
cubic feet of concrete, can be set up and completed by five 
men in one day. The cost decreases with the number of 
tanks built at one time and the facilities for handling con- 
crete. Building four tanks of this size per day the cost per 
tank was as follows : 

Carpenter and blacksmith labor on molds $ 1.75 

Concrete work labor, 30 hours at i7^c 5.20 

3.5 cubic feet cement at 60c 2.10 

7 cubic feet sand 25 

14 cubic feet crushed trap rock 3?oo 



$12.30 



Including finishing, taking down molds, cementing in rub- 
ber-pipe connections, about $15 will cover the cost of build- 
ing a tank as above described, the dimensions of which are 
about 3 feet wide, 9 feet long and 2 feet deep. No con- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. I 1 9 

struction of lead, slate or wood can be made which will ful- 
fill all the requirements of the case for this sum. 

The costs as given are remarkably low, but are given for 
the sake of the information which they contain as to time, 
material, etc., necessary for a tank of the size given. In 
cities this cost would be at least doubled and it will prob- 
ably vary with the locality in which the work must be done, 
the cost of cartage for material, etc. If there is a cement 
contractor in the neighborhood it would be undoubtedly bet- 
ter and probably cheaper to let him build the tanks, rather 
than for the plater to undertake to do it himself, as experi- 
ence counts in cement work, even more than in plating. One 
other point should be emphasized, even more than the writer 
has done — that is, the absolute necessity of slow drying in 
order to secure a good, strong job, which will not have a- 
tendency to crack or peel after it has been some time in 
use. Probably every plater has seen cement walks which 
have been in use for years without showing any defects, 
while others have gone to pieces in far less time ; this is be- 
cause the one was made with plenty of water and kept wet 
for several days, while it was setting, and thus hardened 
very slowly and evenly, while the other was in use, exposed 
to the heat of the sun and the strains of traffic within a day 
or two of its completion. It will be the same way in build- 
in- tanks; if allowed to set properly — that is, slowly — the 
strength will be much greater than if they are rushed through 
and quickly dried. 

Slate is also coming into favor for tanks, as its chemical 
constitution is such that alkaline solutions have almost no 
action on it, and it is being used extensively in the manufac- 
ture of chemicals by electrolytic processes in the east. Slate 
for this work must be free from mineral veins, soft enough 
to permit working freely and possess sufficienl resisting 
properties to enable 1 it to withstand the action of alkali--. 
The writer has seen the plating tanks of a large watch fac- 
tory in New England made of this material. It gave ex- 



120 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS, 

f 

cellent satisfaction, was very cleanly, and being a non-con- 
ductor of electricity and easily worked, the installing of the 
various rheostats, conducting wires, switches, etc., was one 
of the neatest and most convenient jobs we have ever seen. 
All fitting must be very carefully done in this material, how- 
ever, as while very strong, it is not very elastic and cannot 
be sufficiently compressed to force a tight joint with poor 
fitting. 

Lining Tanks. — The ordinary lining for plating tanks 
consists of asphaltum with a little pitch in it to make it a 
little less brittle. Do not attempt to save a little money 
on tank linings by making your own, as it will certainly cost 
you many times the amount saved in leaks and spoiled solu- 
tions later on. The proper composition for tanks has been 
worked out at a considerable expenditure of time and money 
by others and it will certainly be cheaper for you to buy 
their experience than to go over the ground again for your- 
self, at your own cost. Another point in lining tanks is that 
it is poor economy to try to get along with a thin lining less 
than a quarter of an inch in thickness. You may apparently 
line your tank so that it is tight with a lining that is only 
a sixteenth of an inch thick in many places, giving more 
at the corners. Three months later you are apt to find 
your solution is lost in part and you have got to reline 
the tank, all of which could have been saved by 
lining properly. Another point is that the lining has a 
tendency in time to slide down into the bottom of the tank 
and will do so in hot weather or in a very warm room in 
winter, unless it is very securely anchored to the sides of the 
tank. In lining small tanks, it is a good plan to take a 
gouge and go all over the sides with it, making deep cuts 
in the sides, but leaving the chip in the cut. This forms a 
very good anchor for the lining when it is melted and poured 
in. The tank should be very dry when the lining is put in, 
so that it will penetrate the wood and hold on to it. If not 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 12 1 

dry the water will be turned into steam in the wood and 
prevent the lining from adhering, and when this occurs you 
do not discover it until the tank is in use. In lining large 
tanks it is customary to anchor the lining to the sides by the 
use of cheese cloth in the following manner: 

Fold the edge of the cheese cloth and tack it tightly in 
one corner of the sides of the tank ; stretch it evenly along 
the side until you come to the next corner ; make another 
fold here, tack through the fold liberally and proceed along 
the other sides in the same way, giving double thickness at 
the corners and leaving cloth enough to lap over on the bot- 
tom; continue the cloth past the starting point, so as to 
leave a double thickness there ; do the same with the bottom, 
tacking closely at all the sides and corners. Now tack along 
all the edges and liberally through the cheese. cloth all over 
the sides, so that these points will offer resistance to the 
weight of the lining and prevent it from coming down when 
the tank is in use. The point is that the lining if it is as 
thick as it should be, has a considerable weight and a conse- 
quent tendency to leave the wood and slide down when it 
gets warm, as it will do in a very warm room, and there 
should be enough tacks in the cloth to prevent this. Lining 
with cheese cloth is practiced on all wooden tanks with a 
capacity of one hundred gallons or more. 

Asphaltum for lining is purchased from any dealer in 
plating supplies and may be secured in any desired quantity. 
It is usual to order one pound for every gallon of the tank- 
capacity. Large amounts are shipped in kegs and barrels, 
smaller portions in any convenient package. It is black and 
solid, weighs about 300 pounds per barrel, and must be 
melted in applying. This is generally done in an old iron 
pot which is large enough to hold a sufficient quantity to 
cover the largest side of the tank with one melt, as it saves 
the trouble of making a joint in the side with a hot iron, 
which must be done if yon cannot oner it all at one time. 

It should be melted slowly with Stirring until it will run 
very freely and there are no lumps left in it. 



122 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

Lay your tank on its side, with a batten nailed along the 
top of the tank, projecting as far as you want the thickness 
of the lining to be, say three-eighths of an inch, so that 
when you have leveled the tank you can pour in the melted 
asphaltum until it covers the side of the tank to the thick- 
ness of the batten. If the tank is small, pouring the lining 
in this way will be all that is necessary, provided the lining 
is hot enough to run all over the sides immediately and find 
its own level while cooling, so that it is level and smooth 
as glass when it has cooled. If it is too big for this, or if 
it is lined with cheese cloth as described above, it will be 
necessary to have a hot flatiron, pour on plenty at a time 
and iron it into the cheese cloth — or rather through it — 
and into the wood, adding more asphaltum and ironing 
steadily until the air has all been worked out of the cloth 
and we have a hard, thick, smooth coating as first described. 
When this side has been accomplished to your liking, let it 
cool while heating a fresh lot of asphaltum for the opposite 
side ; then turn the tank and repeat the operation, doing 
the ends next and finally the bottom. Pay particular at- 
tention to the corners ; if in doubt about these, take no 
chances, but stand the tank on its corner after cooling and 
pour in hot lining and follow with a hot iron, keeping at 
it until you are sure that the lining has melted into one solid 
piece at that point. Successive layers covering each other 
here will not do ; it must be one solid piece. A tank well 
lined in this way will last for years without leaking, par- 
ticularly if the quarter-round moulding of good size has 
been used as described, so that twisting of the sides and bot- 
tom of the tank, caused by uneven settling or springing of 
the floor will not open the corners. A half-inch lining is 
generally thick enough for all but very large tanks. But 
do not try to save a dollar in lining a tank; every dollar 
saved here will certainly cost you fifty later on. 

Concrete tanks made as described previously should be 
dried as thoroughly as possible and the lining put on with 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. I 23 

brushes and then carefully ironed on with a very hot iron, 
keeping- at it until the lining is smooth as glass. It need not 
be as thick as for wooden tanks, as there will be no twisting 
and wrenching of the sides and bottom of such a tank, so 
that all that is necessary is to see that there are no faults in 
the lining which would permit the solution to reach the 
cement. 

There is a marked difference in tank practice in the east 
from that generally followed in the west. Eastern platers 
order the tanks lined by the dealer of whom they buy and 
such tanks are sanded with clean white lake or river sand 
before the lining cools. This is done to harden the outer 
surface of the lining. A western dealer never lines a tank ; 
tank and lining are shipped separately and the plater lines 
the tank himself after it gets into the shop, so as to take 
no chances of cracking the lining in shipment ; this could 
be easily done by a jar or blow or a fall in shipping, especial- 
ly in cold weather, as the asphaltum is then very brittle. The 
western plater likes to see his lining as smooth as glass ; the 
eastern man wants his sanded, claiming that it is stiffer and 
not so liable to slide down. On the other hand, it is harder 
to clean. As several thousand tanks are in daily use that 
have been lined either way, it is apparent that either method 
will answer. 

When possible the acid dipping jars and the jars for the 
various pickles and dips in more or less constant use should 
be arranged in a large wooden tank of shallow depth. The 
size w r ould necessarily depend somewhat upon the amount 
of work to be done and the amount of room which could be 
afforded ; but in a large job shop where various kinds of 
plating and finishing are done constantly, a tank two feet 
deep by four feet wide and ten feet long would be of con- 
venient size. This should have a partition through the cen- 
ter, with a water cock projecting over <>ne corner of each 
half of the tank and a standing overflow pipe in the oppo- 
site corner. The tank should be made of two-inch stock and 



124 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

provided with the plumbing fixtures shown in Figs. 34 and 
35. These are readily purchased at any plumbing shop and 
either pattern will do, although Fig 34, shown with the pro- 
jecting plug, is the most convenient, as the overflow pipe 
may be attached with the least trouble. In this case a stand- 
ing overflow is made by soldering a piece of pipe to the hol- 
low plug and cutting it off so that the water will overflow 
into the top of the pipe at the designed depth, which is gen- 
erally about six inches less in height than the depth of the 
tank. If the fixture spoken of cannot be obtained the other, 




Fig. 34. Plumbing Fixture for Standing Overflow, showing Ground 
Hollow Plug to receive standpipe. 

Fig- 35> will do; in this case, discard the plug and grind the 
bottom of the pipe so that it will be water-tight when in- 
serted in the mouth of the fixture in place of the plug. These 
fixtures come in regular sizes to fit the piping, varying by 
quarters of an inch. Care should be taken not to get the 
waste pipes from this tank too small, as it is sometimes neces- 
sary to empty them very quickly in case a pickle jar or dip 
has been upset, or in case a sudden change of work re- 
quires absolutely fresh water in the tank. In the latter case 
valuable time may be lost while waiting for a 100-gallon tank 
to empty and refill, if the pipes are too small, besides the 
greater freedom from stoppages of work caused by clogging 
of the waste pipes, which is much more likely to occur with 
small pipes when the standing pipe is pulled and sediment 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 



2 5 



or dirt allowed to flow into the waste pipes from the bot- 
tom of the lank. Smaller than two-inch pipes should nol 
be fitted here, for the reasons given, and two and one- 
quarter or two and a half inch will he far better, on account 
of the saving of time when emptying and the increased free- 
dom from clogging. The drainage is short and. the expendi- 
ture has to be made but once, while the saving of time is 
constantly recurring and the labor using the tank is high- 
priced. The hot side of the tank should have a steam pipe 




Fisj. 33. Plumbing Fixture for Tank bottom, to which standpipe may 

bo lilted. 



open at the bottom and reaching nearly to the bottom of the 
tank. This pipe should be of sufficient diameter to heat up 
tin- water quickly, when work requiring hot rinsing is being 
done. The steam must he clean and should come direct 
from the boiler, if possible ; it will not do to use exhaust 
steam, as that contains oil, while the rinsing water must 
he kept clean; and the pressure must he such as to heal 
the water to the boiling point. Much time is ]<<>{ in the 
wages account by neglecting this point. There are many 
shops where plating cannot he done for an hour or more 
aftcrstartin<7work in the morningf,! ecause there is not steam 



126 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



enough toheat up the potash tank properly, so that the owner 
loses in reduction of output many times the cost of proper 
fittings every month. This loss is greatly aggravated in 
cold weather, many shops not getting up speed in such 
weather before ten o'clock in the morning, during three or 




Fig. 36. Pickling and Dipping Tank, showing jars in position for work 

four months of the year. There should be steam enough 
to heat a hundred-gallon tank in a half hour, so that work 
may be started quickly. Then, when once warmed up, the 
steam supply is cut down and no more is used than is 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. I 27 

required. A one inch lead is generally sufficient for this 
purpose, unless the pipe is very long and it is left without 
covering or other protection. 

The jars containing pickles and dips are set in the tanks 
while they are being used and the rinsing is done just out- 
side the jar; this is clearly shown in Fig. 36. If the jars 
are small, they may be used in a deep tank by making a pile 
of bricks which will raise the .top of the jar far enough 
to prevent water getting into the jar, while the temperature 
of the dip is kept at the proper point by the water. Care 
should .be taken to pile the bricks solidly, especially on the 
hot side, as a strong flow of steam causes considerable com- 
motion in the water and it may upset the jar if the support- 
ing pile of bricks is weak. If it is upset into the tank, pull 
the standing overflow pipe out and empty the tank as quick- 
ly as possible. 

The silver strip, oxidizer and ormolu jars are generally 
used on the hot side and the bright dip and pickles on the 
cold side. of the tank. When using any of these, the water 
should be allowed to run continuously, as then the dirt and 
grease from the work are carried off at the top, through the 
overflow pipe, and the large body of water in the tank is kept 
constantly clean and ready for use. Unless this is done, the 
water will quickly become acidulated from the acids carried 
into it when rinsing from the dip, or similarly polluted from 
the cyanide and potash and in either case it will spoil the 
work. Clean, running water must be constantly used when 
doing the various rinsings previous to and after dipping. 

As many of these combinations of acids used for dips and 
pickles are strong enough to emit dense fumes, which are 
poisonous and highly corrosive, particularly when freshly 
made up, they must be kept closely covered when not in use, 
or they will rust tools, discolor the conducting copper, 
armature commutator, and all bright metal in the room, 
besides endangering the health of the employes. 

If the establishment is large and the dips and pickles are 



I2S THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

numerous and in large jars, they are generally kept in the 
tank we have described and a hood is built over the tank, 
having its outlet up a chimney, or provided with a forced 
draft by a suction fan, such as is used in the polishing room, 
•but smaller ; this will carry away all the poisonous fumes, 
prevent tarnishing the finished work, and enable the 
employes to work with efficiency and comfort. Shops which 
are on the ground floor often do their acid dipping outside, 
or in an open shed, when it can be arranged conveniently, 
but this plan is not to be recommended, as a contrary wind 
will often cause more discomfort in the shop than if it were 
conducted in the plating room without the forced ventilation 
spoken of, and with open windows. In any event, the situa- 
tion may be helped materially by taking care to keep all dips 
and pickles covered when not in use, with plenty of running 
water and open windows when using. 

Of even greater importance, because more frequently 
used, are the hot water and potash tanks and the scrubbing 
tanks for the plating solutions. These tanks should be in the 
middle of the plating room, where possible, with the plating 
solutions arranged on either side, with passage ways around 
three sides of the plating tanks. In this way it will be only 
a step from the rinsing and scrubbing tank to any solution 
and the work is hung before it has any chance to dry off 
and become spotted with dirt, as has happened in plants 
where the rinsing and scrubbing was done at one end of the 
room. This may seem a minor point, but speed in passing 
the work from one process to another is absolutely essen- 
tial many times in the plating business, particularly when 
handling metals which oxidize quickly and are difficult to 
plate. 

The potash tank is generally of iron, riveted up from tank 
or boiler plates, or cast, and stands on the floor, with no 
means of emptying it from the bottom. They have been 
made with a cock in the bottom, but it was found that in 
emptying the tank the cock would invariably become 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. I 29 

clogged with grease, wax, rouge and iron particles, so 
that die method was given up, and they are now emptied 
by dipping when ii is necessary to clean them. The tank- 
should have a coil of steam pipe in the bottom, sufficient to 
heat it quickly to the boiling' point and too much is 1 tetter 
than too little, as very often this tank must be hot before 
any work can be put into the plating tanks in the morning, 
so that it is not a question of expense here, but of being 
able to start work quickly. Seven-eighths or one-inch 
pipe is generally used here and enough coils used to cover 
the bottom. It should have a cold water cock above it, 
so that more water may be added without loss of the 
workmen's time, as the potash is constantly being car- 
ried out of the tank on the work and by evaporation 
it may be necessary to add water half a dozen times on a 
busy day. Crude potash, which is sold in drums, kegs or 
barrels is generally used, as it is cheaper and lasts longer 
than the more expensive and purer salts. About a half 
pound to the gallon makes a solution of good strength for 
most work, though it is sometimes used stronger and also 
weaker for special work. It should clean the work when 
dipped in it and swirled about, but it should not be strong 
enough to discolor the work too much, as it would necessi- 
tate too much scouring to remove the corrosion before hang- 
ing the work in the plating solution. Potash tanks are seldom 
cleaned, as the constant removal of their contents on the 
work makes it unnecessary to do so oftener than four or 
five times a year. Simply adding new potash and water 
from time to time, as may be necessary, will generally keep 
them up to working strength. Sometimes, however, when 
a very bad lot of work has been coming from the polishing 
room, the wax, soap, rouge and oil left on the work in the 
shape of polishing compound, cannot be skimmed off the 
potash and it must be dipped out and thrown away. Skim- 
ming is frequently necessary when working on certain kinds 
of work, such, as that from automatic lathes, where the work 



I30 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

is performed under a stream of oil, and also when oil has 
been too freely used in making stamped or drawn parts. 
Tf the oil used is animal or vegetable, the potash converts it 
into a soft soap and takes care of it all right; but if it is a 
mineral oil the potash will not saponify and can be removed 
by skimming it. In the latter case, the oil rises to the top of 
the potash and if not removed will cling to everything which 
comes out of the potash. 

Cleansing solutions of potash or soda should be kept up 
to a desirable strength for the work at hand by the addition 
of fresh potash or soda from time to time. These solutions 
should not be allowed to become dirty, diluted or non-effec- 
tive, as a great deal of the cost of producing good work 
depends upon the thorough and speedy cleaning, without 
which the work will peel. A weak, dirty cleansing solu- 
tion is the source of no end of trouble and is often worse 
than none at all. 

Where large quantities of both brass and iron goods are 
to be handled, it is advisable to have separate potash solu- 
tions for each, as potash used for cleaning iron goods will 
discolor brass, making it hard to clean without refinishing 
or buffing; brass goods which have been soldered will spoil 
potash for iron, causing it to take on a gray leaden scum, 
which must be thoroughly removed before plating. Zinc, 
lead, antimony or alloys, such as brittania, or aluminum, 
should never be cleaned in the same potash used for other 
metals, as it eats them away rapidly, and the other metals 
are then dipped in a solution of metal, instead of potash, so 
that the object of the dipping is defeated. 

The hot water tank is of wood and generally stands close 
alongside of the potash. The end of the steam pipe 
from the potash coil is turned down into it, as shown 
in Fig. 37, and a separate steam pipe is also run into it, for 
use in case the steam passing through the potash coil is not 
sufficient ; both these pipes have open ends and valves for 
control. On a cold morning the steam passing through the 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



3 1 



potash will be lukewarm water when it gets to the water 
tank, so that the live steam from the auxiliary pipe will speed 
up matters very profitably. The overflow pipe is made in the 
same way as already described for the dipping tank ; it is 
subject to the same conditions and the same kind of fixtures 




Fig. 37. Hot Water and Potash Tanks, showing steam connections and 

overflow, 



are used. As both these tanks are frequently boiling, care 
must be taken that they are not filled so full that they will 
boil over; about six inches margin should be left in filling 
the tanks. They should be large enough, to take the largest 
work the shop will handle. Two by three feet and two feet 
deep is a convenient size for the ordinary jobbing shop. 

We have still the scrubbing and rinsing tanks to consider. 
These are made rather shallow, say eighteen inches deep, and 
provided with cold water only. They are generally on ' 
so as to bring the top about twenty-eight inches from the 



1 3 : 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



floor, and have scrubbing boards on which to place the 
work while it is being scrubbed with pumice stone before 
going into the plating tanks. Fig. 38 shows a tank with a 
wooden partition in the middle and the running water flow- 
ing into the r&ar end of the tank. A hole is made in the 




Fig. 38. Scrubbing Tank, showing use of water twice. 



wooden partition, just a little higher than the overflow pipe 
in the front end of the tank. The work is scrubbed with 
pumice stone and then rinsed in the front of the tank ; it is 
then rinsed again in the clean water in the other half of the 
tank, thus allowing the use of the water twice, first to clean 
the work and then to rinse it. The economy of water is 
considerable in a large shop. 



THE PLATING AND I'O LIMi I N ( . OP METALS. 



33 



Fig. 39 shows a scrubbing tank, potash tank and hot 
water tank, in line. The scrubbing tank has scrubbing 
boards on each side ; the work is scrubbed, rinsed in the tank 
and given the final rinsing in the large jar of clean water, 
which is shown setting under the cold water tap. This ar- 
rangement economizes space and still allows the use of the 
water twice, as in the previous instance, as the water falls 
into the jar and then overflows into the tank. The arrange- 




Fig. 39. Line of scrubbing, potash and hot water tanks showing jar for 

final rinsing. 



ment of the water pipes to serve each tank should also be 
noticed. 

All scouring and rinsing tanks should be cleaned out fre- 
quently. H is generally wise, where large quantities of 

work are being handled, to let out the water from such tanks 
each evening and then scrub them thoroughly with a hard 



134 THE PLATING AND POLISHING OF METALS. 

brush and hot potash, especially along the waterline at the 
sides of the tank, as when much greasy work is being han- 
dled the dirt and grease will adhere to the sides and edges 
of the tank, where it will come in contact with the work 
being prepared for the plating vat and is bound to cause 
more or less trouble and annoyance in the work failing. 
After cleaning, rinse the tank and fill it with clean water. 
This should be done at the conclusion of each day's work. 
The sand and pumice stone found at the bottom of the scour- 
ing vat may be saved and used again on some kinds of work, 
such as rough castings and other work not having a polished 
surface. These settlings, however, should not be used upon 
finely polished work, as the sand and grit they contain will 
ruin the finish on such work. 

Covers. — All plating tanks and vats should have covers of 
wood, oilcloth or canvas ; the two latter answer the purpose 
as well as wood and are more convenient to handle and take 
up much less room when not in use. These covers should 
be kept on all tanks at all times when they are not in use, 
as the grease and dust which are flying about will settle 
upon such solutions and stick to the work when it is put in 
the solution, making spotty work which must be refinished, 
or causing it to peel under the burnisher or after it has left 
the shop. 

While the dynamo and tanks are covered the sweeping 
and cleaning should be done, either before uncovering in 
the morning or after covering at night. 

Solutions should be skimmed off occasionally, with a suit- 
able skimmer, to remove the dust and grease before hang- 
ing the work in the solution. Cyanide solutions will not 
require this operation very often, but nickel solutions have 
a tendency to form a greasy scum which must be removed 
each morning before hanging in the work, or .it will cause 
spotted deposits, and the work is then very likely to peel off. 
To skim a solution easily and quickly, take a sheet of tis- 



THE PLATING AND POLISHING OF METALS. I35 

sue paper by two corners, allowing the sheet to hang 
vertically, and drop its lower edge on the solution at one 
end of the tank, letting the sheet come down and float on the 
solution for about half the width of the sheet; then draw 
the paper slowly and evenly along to the other end of the 
tank and allow the balance of the sheet to settle on the solu- 
tion, when, after standing a moment, it may be removed and 
thrown away, taking with it the grease and dust. Repeat 
the operation until the surface remains clean. A surprising 
amount of oil is sometimes removed from a solution in this 
way. 

Water. — Pure, clean water in abundance is essential in 
the plating shop, if the work is to be of good quality. Too 
little attention is usually paid to this point ; any source of 
supply which is easily accessible is generally made use of, 
without regard to its quality, and if the results are not what 
is anticipated the trouble is ascribed to almost any other 
source than the water. 

Where it can be procured, distilled water, made by con- 
densing steam from the boilers, by allowing the steam to 
issue slowly in a barrel in the plating room, is undoubtedly 
the best for making solutions, as many of the metallic salts 
are easily thrown down by organic impurities in the water. 
If you doubt this take a little nitrate of silver and try to 
dissolve it in water from various sources which you know 
to have impurities in it. Then take a little more silver 
nitrate and put it in distilled water and see how perfectly 
it dissolves and how clear the solution is. A test tube will 
be large enough to try this experiment with and the silver 
may be recovered if desired by redissolving in nitric acid 
and evaporating to dryness. All metallic salts are not af- 
fected as readily as those of silver, and some kinds of im- 
purities have more effect upon them than others, still the 
effect is there if the water be impure, and many times trou- 
ble has arisen when the source of water supply has been 



I36 THE PLATING AND POLISHING OF METALS. 

changed. For instance, in a large bicycle shop in Chicago 
the proprietors thought they would economize by sinking 
an artesian well instead of paying for water from the city 
mains ; shortly after that their wheels began coming back 
from their customers because the nickel peeled in large 
patches or blisters. The trouble was finally located in the 
water, which was strongly mineral, but enough damage had 
already been done to have paid the city water bills for sev- 
eral years. Rain water from clean wooden tanks is very 
good for making solutions and other purposes where it can 
be procured, but if dirty it should be filtered, and this should 
be done with other water which is known to contain im- 
purities which are likely to interfere with plating operations 
to any considerable extent. 

It is also necessary to look carefully to the quality of 
the water used in rinsing and other plating operations, as 
this water and its impurities are carried into the solutions 
on the work. 

Water with large quantities of lime in it will have an 
evil effect in time on some solutions, especially those of 
nickel. In this case the lime combines with the sulphuric 
acid and forms an insoluble sulphate, which either deposits 
on the work while being plated or falls to the bottom of 
the tank. If no further damage is done, the solution is 
being constantly robbed of acid, and it must be as con- 
stantly added to maintain the solution at its proper working 
strength. This state of affairs is much more common than 
is usually supposed in some localities where the water sup- 
ply comes from limestone rock. Water taken from wells 
is sometimes found unfit for the best results in plating, if it 
contains much lime or is strongly mineralized with iron, 
sulphur, magnesia, etc. 

Dirty water is absolutely useless in the preparation of 
work for the plating vat — that is, such water as would be 
obtained from streams or rivers into which the refuse and 
sewage from large mills and factories is drained, or into 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 1 37 

which the sewage from the city or town is allowed to empty. 
The waters of the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio are very 
bad for plating on account of their muddy character at all 
times unless filtered at the city waterworks reservoir. When 
this water is allowed to settle a thick sediment of sand is 
found at the bottom of the tank, and in rinsing work to be 
plated more or less sediment will adhere to the work, often 
causing a roughness in the deposit. 

Of course the reader must not assume that plating can- 
not be done with bad waters. It is done every day. These 
remarks are intended solely to direct the attention to a 
source of trouble which many old and experienced platers 
have never suspected, and also to emphasize the importance 
of securing a proper supply of water when establishing a 
new shop or removing an old one to a new location. Water 
conditions are very seldom ideal, and the only thing left 
the plater in most cases is to get the best that he can. Much 
may be accomplished by using settling tanks where the 
water is full of sediment, and in such cases the tank should 
be large enough to make sure that the outlet will not create 
a current in the water, but give the sediment time to settle. 

Steam. — The plating room should be supplied with 
steam enough to heat up the various tanks and vats quickly 
and keep them hot. In laying out the steam piping the 
main object should be to get steam enough to do the heat- 
ing quickly in the mornings. This is a very different thing 
from getting enough steam to heat the tanks — some time, 
which is the plan on which your piping is likely to be put 
in if you allow the engineer to have his way. The pressure 
should be high enough to keep the pipes full of live steam 
at all times. 

It is useless to fit up a plating room with half-inch or 
three-quarter inch pipe to beat large vats of water- say, 
from sixty to two hundred gallons — as sufficient steam ccin- 
not pass through such pipe in anything like a reasonable 



I38 THE PLATING AND POLISHING OF METALS. 

time. The first thing to do in the morning is to turn on 
the steam and get things warmed up before much work can 
be done, and it is both expensive and annoying to have a 
little half or three-quarter inch pipe sputtering away for an 
hour or more when ten minutes should be sufficient to get 
things boiling hot. When this has been accomplished the 
steam is turned nearly off, allowing just enough to pass to 
keep things hot. 

There are several things to be heated in the plating room : 
First are one or more potash or lye tanks. These should 
have a steam coil in the bottom or along one side as de- 
sired. There should be two valves in connection with each 
potash tank, one previous to the entrance of the steam to 
the coil, in order to control its admission ; the second should 
be on the pipe after it leaves the lye and before it enters the 
hot water tank. In this way the steam may be admitted 
by the first and checked by the second in order to hold it 
in the potash until it has given up most of its heat, whereas, 
if the second valve was not there, the steam would rush 
through the potash and carry nearly all its heat into the 
water tank. This is usually all that is needed in the hot 
water. Sometimes, however, a second lead of live steam is 
run into the hot water tanks in order that it may be heated 
up more quickly or independently of potash. 

Then there is the sawdust box, which should be heated 
by a steam coil. The sawdust box should have a zinc bot- 
tom resting on the steam coil and the coil should be en- 
closed underneath by a false bottom of wood or metal, to 
retain the heat. 

The tank where hot dips and pickles are used should 
have a pipe, preferably of copper or lead, run down to 
within three or four inches of the bottom of the tank and 
cut off. This is controlled by a valve above the tank. 

There should also be an independent connection at some 
convenient point along the line where there is a vacant floor 
space if possible. Here the pipe should run out horizontally 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 1 39 

several inches from the main and terminate in a valve and 
drop ; the latter should be long enough to reach the bottom 
of a jar or pail for use in boiling up solutions, or dissolving 
chemicals, when desired. By having a rubber hose which 
will fit tightly over this drop and providing its other end 
with three or four feet of pipe the steam may be taken 
around the room and used in any part of it as desired. This 
will be found extremely convenient in making up large solu- 
tions, warming them up on a cold morning, redissolving 
salts which have crystallized out of a solution which was 
allowed to get too cold, dissolving the incrustations on 
anodes and various other purposes. 

Every tank, kettle or other steam connection should be 
so piped that it may be used independently of the others 
as much as possible, so that it will be necessary to heat only 
those which are in actual use. 

In the preceding pages we have assumed that the plant 
was located where it could be served with steam from the 
same source from which it obtained its power for polishing 
and driving the dynamo. This, however, is not always the 
case. Plating shops are sometimes located where the power 
furnished is hydraulic. This is often the case in New 
England, where water powers are frequently used to drive 
for a number of small industries which are located in one 
building, or it may happen that all the power used is elec- 
tric. This is coming to be the usual condition of things in 
cities which have companies organized to distribute and sell 
electric power, or in factories where the whole distribu- 
tion of power is electrical. 

Or it may happen that the boilers in the available source 
of power are already overtaxed and no steam can be ob- 
tained from them. In such a case substitutes will have to 
be provided. These are many and various. < Htm the 
plater will buv hog kettles for his potash tanks. These are 
simply furnaces with a fire place or grate under a large ket- 
tle, designed to be used by country butchers when scalding 



i 4 o 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



hogs ; they are also used by stereotypers and metal refiners 
for melting lead, varnish manufacturers for boiling oil, soap 
makers and various other manufacturers. They are a 
nuisance in the plating room, as they must be fired con- 
stantly in order to keep the water, etc., hot, and the coal 
smoke and ashes are very undesirable in a plating room ; but 
they are used where nothing better can be obtained, and 
work is being done by them in a number of small shops 





Fig. 40. 



Fie:. 41. 



scattered over the country. It is much better in such cases 
to use one of the numerous forms of steam heaters which 
have been recently designed for the heating of private resi- 
dences. We show such an arrangement in Figs. 40 and 
41. In such a case the room may be piped as if for a reg- 
ular source of supply, and the boiler may be placed in an- 
other room, or, if necessary, in the plating room. There is 
then but one fire to watch instead of several, and things 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 141 

are kept much cleaner, especially if the boiler can be placed 
outside the plating room. Where city water pressure is 
available the float valve will take care of the water supply 
automatically, leaving only the firing to be watched. If 
this is not the case the water should be supplied from a 
tank placed higher than the boiler and piped to it as would 
be done with the city mains. In such a case the water level 
in the tank will also have to be looked after. This, how- 
ever, is much cleaner and takes less time than the other sub- 
stitutes for a regular steam supply. The writer has used 
one of these in a plating shop in Chicago and found it very 
satisfactory, except that it had to be fired every twenty 
minutes on a cold and busy day in winter. Plenty of steam 
was furnished, however, and we could start quickly in the 
mornings. These heaters are made by various manufac- 
turers and are rapidly coming into use in various industries 
where low pressure steam is required, and many platers 
could materially improve matters in their shops by adopting 
them. 

Supplies. — In large plants it is usual to have a large 
cupboard or shelves in a laboratory in which to keep sup- 
plies. The cupboard is preferable and should be provided 
with glass doors, which will close tightly. The shelves 
should not be too deep, as in such a case supplies get pushed 
back behind others, and then more are bought, and perhaps 
waited for. when the desired material is already on hand, 
lying neglected and lost in a deep cupboard. One of the 
first things a plater does when taking a new position is to 
look over the cupboards and shelves and sec what sort of a 
legacy his predecessor left him. Often he finds bottle after 
bottle partly full and covered with dust, paper after paper 
of old chemicals (many of them the same thing), pulled out 
of drawers and from shelves under benches, old boxes or 
the floor, etc. In one such case which was particularly 
bad, the plater simply collected everything; put them in 



I42 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

order ; dumped all papers containing the same thing in one 
new and clean package ; did the same thing with the bottles, 
and then, having cleaned up to his liking, went on with his 
work and said nothing. One day, three months after- 
wards, the proprietor sent for him and asked : 

"How is it that you never buy anything but acid? The 
other fellow had a bill every month, and you have never 
bought anything but acid." 

"I am getting the work out all right, am I not?" 

"Yes, but you don't buy anything." 

"Well, I'm buying all I need," and he went back, laugh- 
ing, to his work, unwilling to explain how he had found 
matters. The truth was he had found a stock of chemicals 
which, when straightened out and put in order, was suf- 
ficient to last him for over a year, and when he wanted any- 
thing he simply took it off the shelves instead of buying. 
The other fellow had no method of keeping supplies and 
had kept buying things he already had on hand. This is 
also frequently the case where the plater is the owner of 
the shop and thinks he is too busy to clean up, or do any- 
thing which can be neglected. Thousands of dollars' worth 
of chemicals are lost in this way by lying around until they 
are spoiled, when an orderly method of keeping them would 
prevent such waste. 

Chemicals which are apt to deteriorate if exposed to the 
air are frequently bought in bulk. These are best kept in 
large, wide mouthed glass-stoppered bottles, called "salt 
mouths" by the druggists. Candy jars make good sub- 
stitutes for the salt mouths if the latter are considered too 
expensive. The chemicals are at once transferred from 
their papers to these jars and the labels pasted on them. 
Then they will keep clean and fresh, are easily found when 
wanted and will dissolve much more quickly than if they 
had been allowed to dry out in papers. When possible it 
is better generally to buy in the quantities in which the 
goods are packed for sale. They then come to you fresh 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 143 

and in good Condition, and you can keep them in their 
proper packages until used up. This can he readily done 
by finding out the various sizes of packages for each chem- 
ical and writing it down if not printed in the catalogue. 
Many platers have the very bad habit of ordering chemicals 
for which they have no use and of which they know noth- 
ing. This sometimes gets them into serious trouble and is 
expensive and annoying to the firm. Many chemicals are 
found in plating rooms which have no real use there and 
should be kept out. The simpler any dip or solution can 
be made, to give, the desired results, the easier it will be to 
keep it in order and to understand if anything goes wrong 
with it. 

Room and Light. — A great many shops are not well 
arranged for the production of good looking work cheaply 
and in large quantities, which is the main requisite when 
competition is so severe as it is getting to be, even where the 
plating shop is merely an adjunct to a factory. 

I have found by experience in many shops that one of the 
main drawbacks is the woeful lack of room and light, both 
of which are prime factors in turning out good work cheaply 
and quickly. What I mean by room enough is, first, to 
have the plating room by itself and not have in one corner 
the lacquering, in another the polishing and buffing and in 
another the assembling and wrapping. Such a conglomera- 
tion is, I am sorry to say, often the case. As a result good 
work can not be obtained. The plating room should be 
separate, but convenient to the other departments, such as 
polishing and lacquering, and should be large enough to 
permit of passages on both sides of each tank, in which 
the plater may turn about easily. 

As a general rule, the acids, dips, potash, scouring and 
rinsing tanks should be in the middle of the room, while 
the plating tanks should be placed along the side walls with 
one end near to the wall, so that the electrical connections 



144 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

from the main conductors to the tank rods may be con- 
veniently made, without their interfering in any way with 
handling the work to be plated. This allows the plater to 
work conveniently at either side and one end of the tank, 
while furnishing a solid wall on which to place the electrical 
conductors, rheostats, etc., where they are secure and out of 
the way. 

There should be plenty of room in the main aisles, be- 
tween the cleaning tanks in the center and the plating tanks 
at either side, as here is where most of the work is done and 
the men should be able to pass freely with their work, with- 
out getting in each other's way. 

By light is meant, of course, natural light and plenty of 
it. Any kind of artificial light is a very poor substitute for 
daylight in the plating business. It is a well known fact 
that one can not tell the different shades of gold or brass 
under artificial light; indeed, it is often hard to distinguish 
brass from copper, when they are polished, ready for plating, 
so it can readily be seen that it is next to impossible to watch 
fine colors, or to obtain the same shade on all the pieces of a 
lot to be gilded, brass or bronze plated. The plater must 
have a good, natural light, especially on particular work, as 
all artificial lights deceive the eye. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT OK DYNAMOS 
AND WIRING. 

There is no department of plating in which improvement 
has been more rapid or has counted for more than in the 
construction and use of the dynamo. Starting with the 
machine of Edward Weston, in 1876 or 1877, which was the 
first low voltage machine to generally replace the batteries, 
the improvement has been constant, we might almost say 
continuous. When we take into account the facts that 
every manufacturer who sold a machine previous to 1890 
had to educate the purchaser in its use and that none of 
these platers was either chemist or electrician, we might 
call this improvement marvelously rapid, as none of the 
dynamo builders were practical platers and all experience of 
its difficulties and defects had to come to them second hand- 
ed, and with the person reporting them uncertain whether 
the trouble lay in the dynamo or in the solution. This diffi- 
culty exists to-day in many instances. Platers are slow to 
realize that electricity can be measured and controlled as 
easily as steam or water and they regard the instruments 
for doing it as useful refinements, suitable only for the 
laboratory, and not as so many valves and gauges, which 
they really are. The consequences are spoiled work, slow 
output, a totally unnecessary quantity of expensive metal in 
solution and any number of solutions spoiled by the addition 
of expensive and useless chemicals in a vain attempt to make 
them work, when the real difficulty lies in the electrical 
department. 

M5 



I46 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

An instance which recently came under observation will 
show the extent of some of these errors. A plater in charge 
of a shop doing musical instrument work was solicited by a 
salesman to purchase a voltmeter. He replied that he had 
bought one two years ago, but had loaned it and had lost it, 
adding that such things were of no use anyhow. The con- 
versation drifted on to silver, when he volunteered the in- 
formation that the general practice in making silver solu- 
tions was all wrong in regard to the quantity of metal that 
should be in them. Instead of two to four ounces to the 
gallon he was using seven and nobody had any better work 
than he was doing. 

"Seven ounces !" said the salesman in astonishment. 
"What voltage are you using?" 

"Four volts," replied the plater. 

Now the salesman had been a plater and he could not 
reconcile these statements, so he asked the privilege of put- 
ting a voltmeter on the circuit. This was readily granted, 
and • the silver tank showed three-quarters of a volt. In 
order to furnish proper conductivity for so weak a current 
he had put about two dollars' worth of extra metal in each 
gallon of a 500 gallon solution of silver and that money 
was lying idle in the tank, used only for conducting pur- 
poses. Yet that man did not need a voltmeter! He has 
bought one since, however. Another man in another shop 
uses twenty ounces of copper per gallon in the same way, 
and these practices could be cited in numberless instances. 

Indeed, it is the rule that when proper instruments are put 
on the electrical circuit in any shop, that circuit, undergoes 
marked changes at once and the practice of that shop is 
invariably changed for the better as fast as circumstances 
will permit. 

These instances will show the nature of the misinforma- 
tion which is generally supplied to the manufacturer of 
dynamos and against which he has had to contend from the 
beginning. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



'47 



All plating machines were series wound for a number of 
years after their introduction, and many such machines are 
still in use. A series wound machine is one in which all the 
current generated by the machine passes through the wind- 
ings of the field magnets and thence to the tanks. In a 
series wound machine the voltage is entirely a matter of 
speed. Any variation in speed, of course, gives a similar 
variation in the voltage of the current and therefore in its 




Fig 42, Multipolar Dynamo, and Field Rheostat for changing current 

strength. 

quantity. As they were driven at high speeds, from line 
shafts which ran much slower and also varied in speed ac- 
cording to the number of other machines they were driving, 
this difference of revolution of the line shaft would be multi- 
plied by the number of times the dynamo speed was greater 
than that of the line shaft. Thus, with a line shaft running 
300 revolutions per minute, driving a dynamo at 2,400, any 
variation in the speed of the line shaft would be multiplied 
eight times at the dynamo, and as the speed governs the cur- 



148 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 




Fig. 43. Multipolar Dynamo showing curved leads from armature 
windings to commutator, which assist the ventilation. 



rent output in a series wound machine, the variation in speed 
under working conditions gave constant trouble. Putting 
too much work in the tank decreased the resistance below 
the designed point in the outer circuit and hence increased 
the current flow by allowing the machine to run faster with 
a given amount of power. This was partially obviated by 
winding to run at lower speeds, but the difficulty was in- 
herent and series winding was finally almost entirely dropped 



THE rOI.ISIIING AND PLATING OF METAI.S. 14 

in favor of the shunt wound machines, except where the 
speed can be accurately controlled, as it was found that it 
was less apt to burn the work, under average working con- 
ditions. The series wound machine would also reverse the 
current when overloaded, or when the speed is increased 30 
to 40 per cent beyond what it should be. 

The shunt wound machine has its field windings tapped 
onto the wires leading from the armature brushes to the 
tank, with resistance enough in the field windings so that 
only a desired proportion (from 5 to 25 per cent) of the 
current will flow through the field windings and back to the 
other side of the dynamo, while the main portion of the 
current goes through the tanks. Irregularities of speed do 
not affect the current in a shunt as much as in the series 
wound machine, because the amount of current passing 
around the magnets 0/ the field is less in proportion to the 
total current generated and it does not vary nearly so much, 
as the current has another, and generally an easier, outlet 
through the main circuit and electricity will always take the 
path of least resistance. 

The new machine met with universal favor for some years 
after its introduction, until it was found that an overloaded 
machine would drop its current. Of course, the more work 
there is in the tanks, the more passages there are for the 
current and the less the resistance will be. When the re- 
sistance in the tanks becomes less than that in the field 
windings no current will flow through them ; the magnets 
will not be energized and we get no current from the 
machine. This difficulty comes on gradually, so that the 
first effect is a dropping of voltage and therefore of the 
quantity of current, which slows the output, and as more 
work is added to the overloaded tanks the current finally 
ceases altogether. If platers generally would use ampere 
and voltmeters, they would know what they were doing and 
when they had reached the limit of output of the machine 
they would stop adding work to the tanks and there would 



150 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 




Fig. 44. Compound Wound Machine, showing the turns of coarse wire 
around the field magnets in addition to the shunt coils. 

be no difficulty with this form of machine. But as the elec- 
trical installation is generally bad and platers insist upon 
following the guesswork methods which came in with the 
batteries, trouble is continually present in the plating shop 
and with the dynamo builder. There are thousands of shunt 
wound machines now in use; they are still being made and 
they give perfect satisfaction when they are intelligently 
handled, but they would not keep up the voltage under an 
overload and something that would do it was demanded. 

This led to the introduction of the compound winding of 
the field magnets, which is in nearly all of the mew machines 
of the present day, and in which an attempt is made to com- 
bine the merits of the series and shunt windings. Briefly 



THE PLATING AND POLISHING OF METALS. 



*5* 



stated, it consists of a number of field windings tapped on to 
each other and all surrounding the field magnets. 

The compounding of the field coils of a dynamo consists 
of both shunt coils as above described and an auxiliary 
winding of a few turns of the heavier external circuit wire 
around the outside of the shunt coils. When the load on a 
compound machine is increased the voltage remains prac- 
tically constant, as the few turns of the external current 




Fig. 45. Motor Generator. The separately excited field is shown by 
the small wires running from top bar to Held coils. The separate 
motor winding of the armature is fed by the larger wires leading to 
the small commutator on the right. The tank circuit high in am- 
peres and low in voltage is shown by the large cables leading from 
the large commutator on the left to the terminals at the side of the 
field yoke. This machine is motor and dynamo combined. 

passing around the field coils serves to equalize or balance 
the loss of potential in the shunt coils described above in 
the shunt wound type of machine. The constant potential 
of compound wound generator is very essential, as it ■ 
a uniform factor to work within the general scheme "i 
current regulation under varying conditions of load — a 



I52 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

condition always found in electro-plating establishments. 

There is still a third winding of these machines which 
is known as the separately excited type. In this case the 
field coils and one set of armature coils are separated from 
the tank circuit. In another form of this type the magnetic 
field is excited by a separate current running through the 
field coils from an independent source of power. The arma- 
ture slots contain two separate windings, lying side by side 
in the slots, but not connected in any way. The propor- 
tions of the separately excited dynamo windings may be 
almost anything. The tank circuit consists of a few turns 
of heavy wire, while the generator or field circuit consists 
of wire having a definite proportion of the mass of the tank 
circuit wire — say five per cent of the number of circular 
mills in the tank circuit wire — and enough turns to make 
the voltage agree with what is designed for the current 
through the field. The separately excited field has the 
advantage that the current cannot be reversed and it can 
never be dropped ; the amount of current in a dynamo de- 
pends upon the number of magnetic lines per inch in the 
field magnets, and as there is no connection between the 
tank winding and the field winding, overloading the tank 
circuit will not cause a drop or reversal of magnetism in 
the field. There is a variation of voltage due to armature 
reaction, which is caused by the effect of the currents in the 
two coils in the armature slots lying side by side and being 
in opposition to each other ; but this variation in the ma- 
chines thus far built and tried is limited to about ten per 
cent, or eight-tenths of a volt in an eight-volt machine. The 
idea of having one circuit through the armature and field 
and a separate circuit through the armature and tanks 
theoretically offers great attractions ; but it has not been 
tried sufficiently in actual work with very heavy currents, 
under adverse conditions, and hence no one can yet speak- 
definitely as to what faults it may develop under hard work 
with large currents in the average shop. As an electric 



THE PLATING AND POLISHING OF METALS. 1 53 







154 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



proposition it is attractive, and the small machines which 
have been built and run experimentally have seemed to 
warrant in every performance all that has been claimed 
for them. 

The constant extension of electrical distribution of power 
has created demand for dynamos which shall be electrically 
driven and we illustrate herewith two types as showing how 
the plater may solve this difficulty ; one has an electric 
motor mounted on the same base with the ordinary dynamo, 
the motor shaft being connected with the armature shaft 
by a clutch or coupling. This coupling should be flexible, 
so that if the boxes of either motor or generator should 
wear faster than in those of the other machine and thus let 
that shaft down at either end, it would not cause friction 
and binding on the other shaft. 

The other illustration shows what is practically a motor 
and generator in the same machine. In this the field mag- 
nets are separately excited from a steady source of power, 
and this source of power is also tapped for the motor side 
of the armature -winding, a rheostat being placed in the 
armature circuit to govern the amount of current admitted 
to the armature winding, and consequently control the 
speed, as the speed governs the voltage of this machine. 
The tank side contains heavy wire, wound side by side in 
the armature slots with the motor winding already de- 
scribed, but has no connection with it farther than the elec- 
trical influence caused by the induction of opposing cur- 
rents in wires, placed near each other, both of which are 
charged. It therefore has the same armature reaction un- 
der overload as previously described in the separately ex- 
cited generator, but differs from it in having three separate 
windings ; one for the field, one for the motor armature and 
the other for the tank circuit. The variation due to arma- 
ture reaction is also said to remain within ten per cent in 
this machine. Admitting more or less current to the arma- 
ture circuit will change the speed of the machine and con- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. I c q 

sequently change its voltage, up to the limit for which it is 
wound. Thus it is possible to obtain anything from one 
volt to eight volts in a motor-dynamo of this type, which 
has been wound for eight volts. If the source of supply of 
the power current is fairly constant, this machine should 
offer decided advantages. If, however, the current be ex- 
ceedingly irregular, the speed of the machine is likely to 
fall off, unless it be watched and the rheostat adjusted. 
This might be the case if power were taken from a street 
railway current, for instance, but there would probably be 
less variation with a steady source of power than now oc- 
curs in the ordinary shunt or compound wound machine. 

These motor-generators are built to take current at no, 
220 or 500 volts and to deliver a large number of amperes 
at from five to eight volts. In ordering a machine it is 
necessary to know the voltage which will be used to drive it. 
as the machine must be wound for that voltage. Like the 
separately excited generator, these are new machines, and 
only the smaller sizes have been built — from fiftv amperes 
up to five hundred amperes. They are giving satisfaction 
in these sizes when used on electric lighting circuits in city 
buildings. They have not had extended trial in hard work- 
in large sizes, and hence we cannot speak positively in re- 
gard to their performances under adverse working condi- 
tions and heavy currents. Still it forms a very useful ma- 
chine' for small work in cities and for shops which have an 
electric distribution of power. 

If the conditions of use have been electrically measured, it 
is practicable to wind a machine so that it will have a con- 
stant voltage under those conditions. This is being done 
for large establishments which are in charge of electro- 
chemists, but it is manifestly impossible to do it where the 
electrical conditions are not known beforehand. Having 
thus briefly sketched the progress in windings for voljtage 
and output we will now glance at some other matters oi 
construction. 



156 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



g 
r 



5 

•a 

o 

o 

H 

C 

•< 

B 
S3 

3 

o 

2 




THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 157 

The original machines had hut two poles and two brushes ; 
this method of construction has continued to the present day 
in the smaller machines and with some manufacturers in all 
sizes. When the lighting engineers entered the field for the 
production of heavy current at high pressure, they objected 
to this method. They contended that it was better to add 
more poles and brushes and reduce the speed of driving the 
armature and commutator, holding that the advantages 
gained in use more than offset the cost of the extra number 
of parts ; the machine could be made to weigh less and 
ventilation was better. The advocates of the bipolar type 
claimed greater efficiency, by avoiding eddy currents and 
heating, due to the rapid reversal of currents in the armature 
coils so many times in each revolution of the armature, and 
greater simplicity in operation by having only two brushes 
to look after instead of four, eight, sixteen, or even a greater 
number. The controversy thus begun has never been 
decisively settled; public opinion has veered first to one and 
then to the other with each advance in the construction of 
the various types. The introduction of high speed engines 
which could be coupled direct to the armature shaft has 
given a temporary advantage to the advocates of fewer 
poles, which the recent introduction of steam turbines has 
still further increased, and they are now in the ascendant in 
Europe and to a less degree in this country. It is a question 
of mechanics and of cost of production by the manufacturer, 
rather than of electricity, and as such need not concern the 
plater. Either type, as now built, will wear well and do the 
work he requires of his machine. Many manufacturers of 
plating dynamos are now building both bipolar and multi- 
polar machines and thus are in position to sell the advocates 
of either type of machine. 

One of the greatest advantages of the modern dynamo is 
its methods of ventilation. Every mechanic knows that 
heat can be converted into motion and conversely motion 
may be changed into useful work or into heat. An instance 



I58 THE PLATING AND POLISHING OF METALS. 

of the first is the steam engine, in which the energy of heat 
is transformed into the energy of motion ; instances of the 
second are the machinist's lathe, where this motion is trans- 
formed into work and heat at the point of the cutting tool, 
and in the polishing shop, where the same thing is done with 
the wheels and buffs. In such cases we do not succeed in 
transforming our energy of motion entirely into work and 
what we lose shows up as heat ; every polisher knows that 
the duller his wheels are the more heat he will have on the 
work. 




mmm \ 



» 



Fig. 48. Modern armature, showing ventilation of the core. 

Electricity is a form of energy (like motion) and it will 
do work or make heat, or do both, just as in the other form 
of power. There, is, however, the disadvantage that the 
copper becomes a poorer conductor of electricity with each 
rise in temperature, so that it is important to keep the copper 
cool in our armature coils, brushes and field magnets. If 
we do not keep them cool, then in addition to reduction of 
current output, we shall finally get things so hot that we 
will burn up the insulation of our dynamo and thus destroy 
our machine, so that any means of increasing our ventila- 
tion, and thus conducting the heat away from our dynamo 
as fast as it is formed, becomes highly important, both in 
current output and in the life of the machine. 

The earlier machines had a solid armature core and this 
was tightly wound with insulated wire ; naturally this was 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



J 59 



easily heated. When hot it took a long time to cool. Every 
plater who has had to shut down a hot dynamo knows how 
long it took the old armatures to cool off. The next advance 
was in making the armature windings in coils, inserted in 
slots on the circumference of the armature core, and with 
holes in the core for the passage of air. These ran much 
better. Then the experiment was tried of making the arma- 
ture winding of solid rod, leaving it bare and insulating the 
slot in the armature while retaining the holes. Finally came 
the practice of using smaller bare wire in the armature slots, 
held apart by insulation, and with the leads to the commuta- 







Fig. 49. Modern armature winding, showing ventilation and method 
of attaching to commutator. 



tor sections curved so that when the armature revolves they 
act like blades of fans and force a constant stream of air 
through the armature. This is plainly seen in the illustra- 
tions of modern dynamos shown in these pages. Such 
machines will run slightly beyond their rated capacity with a 
very small increase of temperature above that of the sur- 
rounding air, provided the work is not increased in the tanks 
to take up the extra volume of amperes which this speed will 
produce ; in this case the effect is a rise in voltage ; and any 
of them should run in ordinary working conditions 50 de- 
grees F. above that of the room. 



l6o THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

The above has been set forth in detail because of the 
troubles constantly encountered in plating shops, which are 
due solely to ignorance on this point. Many platers think 
that the dynamo is their most expensive machine and it 
deserves great care, so they build an airtight box around it 
to keep the dust away. Under such circumstances the dyna- 
mo, being 50 degrees hotter than the surrounding air, soon 
raises the temperature of the air; and this process is con- 
tinuous until trouble arises. The writer was once sent 185 
miles into the country to see what was the matter with a 
new dynamo of latest type. When he got there he found 
the dynamo closely covered with a nice hardwood box and 
so hot it made severe burns on his hands when he touched it 
in taking off the box. He chopped that box into little pieces 
and carried the pieces into the boiler room while he said 
things to the plater. Then he took the next train for the 
city, and there was no more trouble with the machine. 
Others have made a nice little room for the dynamo, papered 
the walls to make them dust proof, and painted the floor. 
This, while it is not so bad because it is larger, is a detriment 
to the machine. A dynamo generates heat constantly and 
must stand where the heat can be carried off. A room that 
is not too dirty for plating solutions will not be too dirty for 
the dynamo, and far more damage will result from boxing 
it than will result from the dust. 

A modern dynamo will give a far greater capacity for a 
given weight than the older machine and less power is re- 
quired to drive it. It sparks less and consequently does not 
rough up the commutator nearly so often. Many of the 
older machines required frequent adjustment of the brushes 
as the work varied in the tanks. This was often not noticed 
in the job shops, where the work was small, but was dis- 
agreeably evident in shops where the pieces of work being 
plated were of considerable surface, so that a few being put 
in or taken out would alter the load on the machine very 
perceptibly. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. l6l 

The old machines had the armature wires soldered to the 
commutator bars, making- them difficult to repair, while the 
new oiks allow the commutator and the various sections of 
the armature windings to be taken out and replaced without 
difficulty. 

Another important point is the difference in ratings. The 
old machines were rated at nearly their greatest capacity 
and many a plater who bought a 1,000 ampere machine 
found his voltage beginning to drop when the machine was 
giving 600 amperes, or even less. The new machines are 
rated lower, so that the full number of amperes of the given 
voltage may be obtained from them. This is an important 
point to remember, if you are tempted to buy a machine of 
old type. If it is in good order it will probably stand up 
under 50 to 70 per cent of the output for which it was 
originally sold. 

There was no dishonesty in the original ratings, simply a 
misunderstanding of the needs of the situation. The manu- 
facturers had not then discovered the tendency of the 
platers to buy about 300 amperes less capacity than they 
really needed and then overwork the machine. The platers 
did not (and many of them do not to-day) have any idea as 
to how much current they can use profitably, so they bought 
the smallest machines that could be made to run their work 
at the average output of the shop. In busy times it was not 
enough and the machine was generally overworked during 
those periods ; if the business was increased the overwork 
was continuous. 

Another factor which led to the general use of machines 
which were too small was that, owing to the absence of 
ampere meters in plating shops, no reliable data exists, even 
to-day, as to the quantity of current which is necessary on 
certain classes of work. Tables of amperes per square foot of 
surface exist, of course; they may be found in any cata- 
logue of any supply house ; but these tables are wholly mis- 
leading. They were made by taking, for convenience, thin 



l63 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 

sheets of metal and measuring the number of amperes per 
square foot which could be used to deposit metal on the 
sheets without burning. They are correct as applied to that 
sheet ; but the mistake was made of supposing that only the 
surface need be considered. For instance, the tables state 
that cyanide of copper solutions require six to eight am- 
peres per square foot; acid copper, ten to twelve amperes. 
This is true on a sheet of twenty-two gauge, but a plate a 
half inch thick will take twenty to twenty-seven amperes, 
and a cast iron panel three-quarters of an inch thick and 
four by seven feet in its other dimensions will require from 
fifty to sixty amperes per square foot to put the metal on 
properly in the center without burning at the corners. 
Twenty amperes per foot is common practice on heayv 
work where six are indicated in the tables, and nickel 
plating direct on sheet zinc will take sixty amperes per foot. 
Of course a dynamo bought according to the tables will be 
wholly inadequate for anything but thin sheet metal. 

It is easy to see how the mistake arose. The limit of 
quantity of current is at that point at which the metal com- 
mences to discolor from the heat evolved when the metal is 
deposited out of the solution ; a thin plate conducts heat 
slowly beyond a given quantity. On the other hand a large, 
heavy piece contains metal enough to conduct the heat 
away as fast as it is formed and ten or twelve times as much 
current may be used profitably on such work. Between 
this and the thin sheet there are numberless gradations of 
work which have never been properly measured by anybody. 

When the use 1 of ampere meters becomes general in plat- 
ing shops we shall, doubtless, have a series of observations 
of the quantities of current needed on certain classes of 
work. These will eventually be collected and tabulated and 
then we shall have more reliable data on which to purchase 
our dynamos intelligently. At present this knowledge is 
possessed only in fragmentary form and by only a few 
dynamo salesmen. If they offer it to anybody who is con- 



THE POLISHING A X D PLATING OF METALS. 163 

sidering the purchase of a machine, they are not believed 
because the information given is so greatly at variance with 
what has hitherto been published. If some of the professors 
in the electrochemical departments of our universities, or 
polytechnic schools, would, from actual experiments, pre- 
pare a new series of tables which would consider mass and 
heat-conducting capacity of the cathodes, as well as the 
surface, they would perform a much-needed service for a 
large and constantly growing industry. At present not one 
plater in a thousand knows how much current he can use 
profitably on various classes of work. If, by accident, he 
meets a salesman who does know, the number of amperes 
he mentions is so great that the plater concludes the sales- 
man knows nothing and is trying to sell him a much larger 
machine than he needs ; so he compromises on a smaller one 
than is recommended, but which is larger than he intended 
to get, and the improved machine is so much better than his 
old one that the plater really believes it completely meets all 
demands of the situation. In two or three years this is re- 
peated ; and so we will go on guessing, until complete data, 
made from actual work in the shops, shall be available. 

It would prove very annoying and expensive to have to 
put in a larger dynamo every time you wished to add a few 
gallons of solution or a few hundred gallons; so it is wise 
to get a dynamo with a capacity for handling much more 
solution than is required at the time of purchase. The plant 
may then be enlarged at will. Besides a larger and more 
powerful machine than is actually required will do the 
work much more satisfactorily in every way, as it will be 
run at a lower speed than a machine just capable of handling 
the work would require, and thus cause the least possible 
strain on the working parts, such as bearings, commutators 
and brushes, and greatly prolong the life of the machine. 

The dynamo should not spark, and the modern machine 
is very nearly perfect in this respect, if prnperlv handled 
and kept clean, but it requires just enough handling to keep 



164 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

it clean and properly adjusted— no more. If just sufficient 
for the work at hand and worked to its fullest capacity, 
the machine is very apt to heat and spark badly and at times 
requires to be shut down and allowed to cool off to prevent 
it from burning out when the vats are full of work, thereby 
causing much delay and requiring much extra labor and 
annoyance in doing over work which may have been in the 
tanks and only partly plated when the shut-down occurred. 
This cannot always be laid to the dynamo, for the best 
machines will heat and perhaps burn out if overloaded. 

The small-sized dynamos are more apt to spark than the 
larger ones and require more attention to keep them running 
properly. It is a mistake to follow too closely the printed 
directions that accompany the machine as to setting up 
and adjusting, as these must in their nature be general, and 
do not always conform to special conditions, which may 
be present in the shop. Of course, the beginner, if he has 
no previous knowledge of dynamos and electricity, must 
adhere to the directions until he becomes acquainted with 
his machine and its requirements ; he will soon learn, how- 
ever, under what conditions of adjustment it will give the 
best results. The experienced plater knows just where and 
how he wants the dynamo for any particular plant. 

Dynamos should be so constructed that the operator can 
get at the brushes and all set screws and their adjusting 
arrangements quickly. All thumb screws should be corru- 
gated or knurled, and the adjusting lever on the side rocker 
arm, which is used for swinging the brushes around the 
commutator to different positions, should also be corru- 
gated. This is a point sometimes lost sight of by manufac- 
turers, but it is very annoying to the plater to try to adjust 
his dynamo in a hurry with all the thumb screws of the ad- 
justments smooth. When his hands are either wet, or soft 
and tender from being in the water, he is unable to turn 
the screws without the aid of pliers, whereas the corrugated 
ones may be adjusted easily. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 1 65 

The dynamos should usually be placed at one end of the 
row of plating tanks, or as near to the main body of solution 
as possible, as long stretches of conducting copper tend to 
reduce the current. If the rows of tanks are very long the 
dynamo should be connected at the center of distribution. 
I have seen as high as thirty tanks in one row. It should 
be set three or four feet from the floor, so as to avoid dirt 
when sweeping, and should rest upon a perfectly rigid foun- 
dation, which will greatly assist the dynamo in maintaining 
a steady flow of current, and prolong its life. Owing to 
the sharp competition in the manufacture of dynamos, they 
have become well-nigh perfect in point of construction. The 
bearings should be self-oiling. The brushes should be pro- 
vided with springs that will give them flexibility and allow 
them to rest firmly, yet not rigidly, upon the commutator. 
The armature should be large and wound to insure low speed 
in the machine. The windings of the armature should be 
imbedded in slots in the circumference of the armature and 
the metal in the core be allowed to project a trifle above the 
wire of the windings in such a way that the insulation of 
the wire will be protected from coming in contact with the 
field magnets. The journals sometimes become worn with- 
out being perceived by the plater, letting the armature 
slightly out of place, and as it runs very close to the field 
magnets it is likely to rub or strike them, thus destroying 
the insulation on the armature and causing a loss of current, 
and heating of the machine. If the insulated wires are well 
protected the difficulty may be located and remedied before 
any damage results. 

Those not accustomed to handling electro-plating dyna- 
mos have the idea that they are constructed just as lighting 
machines or motors are. and therefore must be as dangerous 
and liable to shock those touching them. This is a wrong 
impression, as the plating dynamo is so constructed that 
it is next to impossible to receive a shock from it that would 
be harmful. Still, there are conditions under which quite 



l66 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

a painful shock may be obtained ; for instance, when the 
commutator of the machine becomes burned into ridges or 
furrows along the segments, causing a vibration in the 
brushes as the current is carried off and also making waves 
and impulses in the current, which will cause shock. 

The plating machine should be placed where it will get 
good ventilation and yet be free from dust and dirt, and 
where light enough may be obtained to adjust it intelligent- 
ly. If it can be placed near an open window, without in- 
convenience, this would be an advantage. The dynamos 
should never, under any circumstances, be placed in the 
polishing or buffing room, as particles of emery and metal 
from the wheels will lodge on the commutator or in the 
brushes, causing cutting and sparking in spite of all you 
can do to avoid it. The lint from buffs will also get into the 
brushes and cause sparking and burning. 

One person should have entire charge of the dynamo, 
and it should be cleaned every morning, but nothing more 
should be done if it is running smoothly. Some machines 
will run for days and even weeks with a steady current and 
no sparking when the work is running evenly in the shop. 
So it is best not to tamper with it when running perfectly, 
or nearly so, as you may often cause the condition you wish 
to avoid, that of sparking and cutting. It often happens 
that a machine may be working beautifully and giving uni- 
form results for weeks without any adjustment whatever, 
when you will be suddenly surprised to find you have no 
current and can get none. The difficulty will very likely 
be found in the commutator becoming glazed over too thick- 
ly with oil, preventing proper contact between the brushes 
and the insulated segments of the commutator, thus destroy- 
ing the current. The current may also be destroyed by a 
short circuit, caused by a piece of metal of any kind coming 
in contact with both conducting rods of the dynamo at the 
same time. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 1 67 

In cleaning the commutator, never use emery in any form, 
as it will imbed itself in the copper and cut the brushes, 
causing sparking and loss of current. Use very fine sand- 
paper, put around a flat stick, which will tend to keep it 
flat and even. The brushes should be lifted from the commu- 
tator, or removed, while the sand paper is being used. 

Brushes are generally bevelled to fit the surface of the com- 
mutator and they should be kept so by filing with a smooth 
half-round file. The brushes should also be removed when 
they become covered with oil and have the oil and grease re- 
moved from them by cleaning with gasoline or benzine. 
When adjusting the machine have the brushes properly 
bevelled, so that they will come in contact with the com- 
mutator the full width of the brush and not touch it only 
in the center or at one corner. Set them so they have an 
even, gentle pressure upon the commutator. The brushes 
must not be set rigidly, but have a flexible, springy position, 
the commutator being first smoothed and slightly oiled with 
a piece of hard felt which has absorbed oil and plumbago 
and is then held lightly upon the commutator. Very little 
oil is sufficient and it should never be applied directly to the 
commutator in liquid form. When the commutator is 
clean and smooth after being slightly oiled, the machine 
should be stopped and the brushes put in position as just 
described, with particular care that one set is diametrically 
opposite to the other, and to secure an even contact on the 
commutator and an even and gentle pressure on all brushes 
alike. When this is done the machine may be started, and 
if it sparks move the rocker arm by the lever attached to it 
around the circle of the commutator until sparking ceases. 
If the brushes are evenly and properly adjusted there will 
be little difficulty in finding the non-sparking point. If yon 
still have sparking, the trouble is perhaps with the brushes, 
which should be readjusted while the machine is running 
until the trouble is controlled. Dynamos may be adjusted 



l63 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

while in use without dropping the current, especially the 
large four and six-brush types. 

Purchasers of dynamos very often find the machine not 
able to accomplish the amount of work claimed for it by its 
manufacturers. The machines are guaranteed to accom- 
plish a certain amount of work, or deposit a given number 
of ounces of metal in a certain time, or a shell of metal a 
given thickness in a certain time under certain conditions, 
but usually one or more of these conditions are lost sight 
of or altered in setting up the machine ; then the trouble 
begins. Usually a machine set up and run, just as it should 
be and according to directions, will do much more work 
than is claimed for it. 

In "wiring" from the dynamo may be located a frequent 
cause of trouble with the dynamo in the past and even to 
some extent in the present practice of many platers. In 
the past it arose from the frequent inability of the plater to 
understand, or an unwillingness financially to recognize, 
the fact that the conducting power of a wire, rod or cable 
is exactly proportioned to the amount of metal contained in 
it and to the conducting power of that metal ; also' to its 
capacity for radiating heat to the surrounding air. In the 
present the error of having too small conductors arises from 
the misunderstanding as to the quantity of current which 
is really used on various classes of work and to the use of 
tables for computing current which take account of the sur- 
face only, as previously referred to at length when speaking 
of the purchase of dynamos. The wiring must, of course, 
be done before plating can commence; hence it is done by 
calculation, from the tables referred to, as to the amount 
of current that will be used in the tanks ; or by guessing 
from previous experience. In either case the wiring is faulty. 
It may be calculated so as to give good service when all the 
tanks are full of work and the current is distributed among 
them in proper proportions. This ideal working condition 
is, however, seldom maintained very long at a time in the 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 1 69 

average shop. It is more frequently the case that all or 
most of the work is being done in one or two tanks, with 
little or nothing in the others. Then the taps, or branch 
wires, to those tanks become too small to allow the current 
to pass in sufficient quantity without heating, and trouble 
commences. The resistance of the wire increases rapidly 
with the heat ; soon the whole system gets hot and heating 
then commences in the dynamo. The time required in doing 
the work is more than it should be and the cost is increased 
so that the plater may make a loss when he figured on a 
nice profit. This is frequently the explanation of why one 
plater can do work cheaper than another. All the wiring 
should be large enough so that a very large amount of cur- 
rent may be thrown into all tanks at once, or into any one 
tank, without heating the conductors. 

The connections found in all plating supply catalogues, 
and hence in all plating shops, are another cause of trouble. 
They are a survival from the dark ages of plating — the bat- 
tery ages — and have caused more trouble, cost more money, 
and reduced the output more in the average shop, than all 
other sources of loss combined. They lasted less than six- 
months in the lighting field, because the electrical engineers 
had measuring instruments with which to locate trouble. 
The platers, however, guessed at things, so the old battery 
connections, designed to carry one or two — maybe ten — 
amperes without heating are still in use on dynamo circuits, 
and so hot that if you touch them you burn your fingers. 
As originally designed, they were drilled in sizes of holes 
which would tightly fit the sizes of wire and the set-screw 
merely prevented the wire from being pulled out of the hole ; 
the current passed from the wire through its entire circum- 
ference, which fitted the hole closely. There was metal 
enough, and enough surface in contact, to pass the current 
without heating, as all currents were small. When they 
were used on dynamo circuits the case was altered. The 
main conductor rods were rolled up, or bent into convenient 



170 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

lengths, for shipping. These were roughly straightened 
on the floor of the plating shop, leaving numerous bends 
and kinks in them. The connections had to be slipped on 
the rods from one end and a hole of proper size would not 
pass these bends in the rod, so larger holes were substituted. 
Then the current could only pass through that portion of 
the surface in the hole which was tangent to the circumfer- 
ence of the conductor bar and through the point of the set- 
screw. This reduced the amount of surface in contact to 
from one-sixty-fourth to one-hundredth of what it should 
be and heating commenced. The greater difference there is 
in the sizes of rod and hole, the less will be the surface in 
contact and the poorer the connection. The electrical en- 
gineers, being provided with measuring instruments, found 
this out immediately and discarded the connection. The 
platers have continued its use, and we generally see a No. 3 
wire in a 0000 hole. The connection should fit closely the 
entire circumference of the conductor and should have metal 
enough in it to carry the current without heating. 

Figs. 50 to 54 show the form of connection used in elec- 
trical engineering with currents that are high enough in 
voltage to cause trouble from poor contacts. Any plater 
can get them made at any machine shop. They consist of 
halves, with ears, drilled to receive stove bolts, by which 
they are clamped tightly upon the wire. They are cast from 
copper or low brass, clamped together with thin washers 
between the ears to hold them apart slightly and then drilled 
to fit the wires exactly. After being drilled the washers 
are removed and the boxes may then be clamped tightly on 
the conductor rods and wires so as to fit perfectly. They 
may be put on or taken off with a small wrench and screw 
driver and are much more convenient when making changes, 
as they do not require the stripping of the main conductor 
in order to get a new connection on where it is wanted. 

With the use of the unions, elbows and tees, a plant may 
be easily and rapidly wired with a hack saw to cut the rods, 



IIIK POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 1 7 1 

a file to smooth the ends, and a wrench and screw driver for 
the stove bolts. 

In making the patterns for the castings, they should be 
made so that the annular space left after boring out will 
have metal enough to equal the metal in the conductor on 
which they are used. Thus a one-inch round rod has an 
area of .8627 ; this amount will be bored out and we must 
have an equal amount left; twice .8627=1.7254 area, or a 
diameter of one and three-eighths inches for our pattern, 
so that the metal left to bridge the gap of our union or 
elbow will be equal to the metal in the conductor. 




Fig. 50. Split T; a superior connection for running branch wires from 
main conductors to tanks. The upper hole is drilled to exactly fit 
the main, while the lower fits the tap wire to tank. Can be put on 
and taken off by unscrewing the stove bolts, without disturbing 
other parts of the electrical system. 

Figs. 53 and 54 show what is known among engineers as 
a "terminal." It consists of an eye, either made separately 
and attached to the end of a rod or wire, or it may be made 
by flattening the end, punching a hole in it and rounding the 
edges. The latter is more work, but is preferable, as there 
is then no joint in the wire. These terminals should be 
placed on the ends of all tank rod? and also on the lower 
ends of all tap wires running from the main circuit to the 
tanks. We then have large Hat surfaces which may be 
bolted together so as to insure good contact and also a con- 
nection which is easily made or broken when we wish to 
take the rods off for cleaning. The flat surface of the con- 



i 7 2 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



tact makes it very easily cleaned and the bolted connection 
is much easier and more secure than those now in use. Any 
small bolt and nut may be used with them. 

It is safe to say that the substitution of these connections 
will speed up the output and cool down the dynamo to a 




Fig. 51. Split Elbow for use in making electrical connections where a 
quarter turn is desired, as in the corner of a room. etc. 

surprising extent in the average shop and no plater will ever 
regret the time and trouble spent in making the change. 

Figs. 55 to 59 are various forms of insulated wire holders, 
for use in running wires about the shop ; they consist of 
metal clamps containing porcelain holders which are in 
halves and so constructed that they may be opened and the 
wire put in or taken out easily. They are quickly put in 




Fig. 5?. Split Union for connecting conductor rods, etc. 

place and easily removed and range in sizes of quarters of 
an inch up to two inches diameter of the circular hole. They 
may be bought of any electrical supply house and are very 
cheap and efficient. It has been customary to run wires 
from a plating dynamo any old way and grounding has fre- 
quently caused trouble which thes-3 fixtures will prevent. 



THE POLISHING AXE PLATING OF METALS. 173 

Insurance companies are getting more strict and many of 
them now require that any bare wire carrying electricity 
shall he suitably insulated. These insulators will comply 
with such demands. 

As to the sizes of the tap wires needed to carry current 
from the main conductor rods, little is really known, except 
that they are generally too small. The man who sells and 
installs a dynamo will get his main leads big enough if the 
plater will let him. But the poor connections, the lack of 
measuring instruments, and the absence of reliable data 
as to the amount of current which may be used profitably 




Fig. 53. Terminal made by flattening and boring the ends of tank rods 
tap wires, etc., showing the method of bolting to make a good con 
nection which is easily cleaned 

on various classes of work, have prevented the laying out of 
wires from the mains to the tank rods in such a way as to be 
sure of their electrical efficiency at such times as the work 
being plated is heavy and confined to a few tanks, while the 
others are idle. Any plater can see that if his work can 
use thirty amperes per square foot, when the tables say six, 
the wires from his mains to the tank rods must be capable 
of carrying that amount of electricity or he will not get it in 
his tanks. 

An area equal to one square inch is required to carry 
1,000 amperes. A copper rod one inch by one inch, or a 
strip of copper four inches by one-fourth inch, or two inches 
by one-half inch, will fill this requirement. If round wire 
is used, an area equal to one square inch must be employed, 
or a conductor about one and one-eighth inch in diameter. 

The above specifications apply only to installations where 
the distance from the dynamo to tank — measuring along 



174 ThE polishing and plating of metals. 

the entire length of the conducting wire — is not more than 
40 feet. For distances greater than 40 feet the size of the 
conductor should be increased as the distance is increased. 
Double the size conductor is needed for a line connection 
of 80 feet, while 50 per cent increase in size of conductor 
is required if the distance is increased 50 per cent over 40 
feet. This is at variance with the tables compiled for cur- 
rents of 100 volts and over, but is true with low voltage 
such as is used in the plating room, the reason being that 
the pressure here is so low that any slight resistance will 
destroy it. 

In arranging branch wires from main line to tanks, it is 
necessary that the wires be large enough to carry, without 




Fig. 54. Terminal with eye inserted for bolting up tank rods, etc. 
The flat surface gives a connection that is easily cleaned and the 
bolts allow it to be easily made or broken. See Fig. 53. 



heating, enough amperes to plate the full load of the tank. 
The capacity of the tanks in square feet of work surface 
can be readily determined ; then with a knowledge of the 
amperes required to plate a square foot of surface of the 
various metals, the total amount of amperes needed for the 
full number of tanks and the size of wire best adapted to 
carry the current can be determined. 

For the convenience of platers we give below a table 
showing the number of volts and amperes required to deposit 
a square foot of surface of each of the various metals, ac- 
cording to the size articles to be plated and the density of 
the solution, and the carrying capacity of the different sizes 
of copper wire. 



Amperes. 


4 






60 


or 


70 


6 


or 


8 


6 


or 


8 


6 


or 


8 


! 10 


or 12 


2 






iy 2 






10 







THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. I 75 

AMPERES REQUIRED TO PLATE ONE SQUARE FOOT UPON THIN METAL. 

Volts. 

Nickel 2 — s 

Nickel on Zinc 5 — 8 

Brass 5 —8 

Bronze 1 V2 — 5 

Copper Cyanide 1^/2 — 5 

Copper Acid 1 — z x / 

Silver Yi — 4 

Gold 34—4 

Zinc 5 —8 

If the work is heavy enough to conduct heat rapidly the 
number of amperes may be multiplied by from six to ten, as 
the quantity of current is greater than here indicated. 

CARRYING CAPACITY OF COPPER WIRE. 

Amperes. 

No. 3 B. & S. Gauge 50 

No. oB.&S. Gauge 100 ' 

No. 0000 B. & S. Gauge 180 

l / 2 inch Diameter 225 

% inch Diameter ! 35° 

H inch Diameter 500 

% inch Diameter 650 

1 inch Diameter 750 

1% inch Diameter 1.000 ' 

In computing the surface of work in the tank all surface 
which the solution touches must be counted, whether it 
plates or not, as current will pass to it, even if it does not 
plate. This has been tested repeatedly with hollow objects 
and found to be true; by first measuring the current with' 
the solution excluded from the inside and then measuring 
again with the solution admitted freely to the interior. 

Having figured the surface of the work by the above 
tables for the surface of the various solutions, and made 
the necessary increase in the figures to allow for plenty of 
current on the heaviest work you are likely to do, you can 
select your wires to carrv current from the mains to the tank 



176 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



rods by using the table of carrying capacities, and it is safe 
to say that the results will surprise most of the old platers. 




Fig. 57. Fig. 58. Fig. 59. 

The tank rods are also a source of trouble in some estab- 
lishments and would be found to be insufficient in many 
others if insufficient mains and tap wires did not cut down 
the current before it reached them. Some platers — happily 
these are few — will attempt to use iron gas pipes for tank 
rods. The conductivity of iron is much less than that of 
copper or brass and the amount of metal in them would 
have to be two or three times that of the copper tap wires 
leading to them. Iron is easily corroded and its exposure to 
the moisture and corrosive liquids and gases of the solu- 
tions makes it practically impossible to keep it clean enough 
to make good contact with the anode hooks and wires used in 
suspending the work, so that there is a great loss of current 
where iron rods are used. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. ] 77 

Iron anode rods are sometimes used on silver solutions. 
In this case a piece of three-quarter or one-half inch round 
iron rod is bent to the shape and size of the inside of the tub 
and is hung into the tub by iron hooks suspended over the 
edge, allowing the anode rod to hang just under the surface 
of the solution. Being under the surface will keep the iron 
rod clean and it is not affected (noticeably) by the current, 
as this is of low voltage. The silver anodes are then at- 
tached to iron wires with the end of the wire projecting 
above the loop and out of the solution, so that the anodes 
may be removed and replaced without getting the hands into 
the solution. One end of the iron rod should project 
upward to the top of the tub to receive the electrical con- 
nection from the main or tap wire. 

Brass tubing of light section is sometimes used, reinforced 
by iron pipe stuck inside to stiffen it. This is not so bad as 
the use of the bare iron, as it does not corrode so easily, but 
is generally lacking in proper conductivity and is bad prac- 
tice on that account. 

Brass tubing of heavy section is also used with and with- 
out iron rods or tubes to strengthen it. If properly figured, 
so that the amount of metal in the wall of the tube is suffi- 
cient to carry the current, they are very good when new and 
clean, but if used on cyanide or acid baths where the solution 
is constantly being dripped on them when taking work out 
of the tank, the zinc in the brass will soon be eaten away by 
the potash, cyanide and acid, and such rods soon become 
honey-combed to such an extent that their conductivity is 
reduced and their strength impaired. 

Copper tubing is much better than brass, especially if it 
be of sufficient thickness to conduct the current and is prop- 
erly strengthened with close-fitting iron pipe or rod. Do not 
understand "thickness" as used above, to mean diameter of 
the pipe ; by thickness we mean thickness of the wall of the 
pipe — not its diameter. The amount of metal in such a pipe 
is determined by multiplying the square of the outside diam- 



I78 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

eter of the pipe by .7854 ; doing the same thing with the in- 
side diameter and subtracting one from the other to get the 
area of metal contained in the annular wall of ~ the pipe. 
This area of metal in the wall should never be less than the 
area of the tap wires carrying current to the rod, as if it is 
less it will choke the current and cause loss by heating. If 
compelled to use copper tube that is too thin, the diameter 
of the pipe should be increased until the amount of metal in 
the pipe is a little more than that in the tap wire. 

Copper rods make far the best tank rods and ' should 
be used whenever it is possible to obtain them. They are 
the most durable, most easily cleaned and have the longest 
life. If they get badly corroded through neglect or care- 
lessness they may be sent to the polishing room and buffed 
up and there is metal enough in them to give the proper con- 
ductivity if they are stiff enough to properly support the 
work. 

The ends of tank rods should be formed into terminal eyes, 
so that they may be connected to the tap wires by a bolt and 
nut, as shown in Fig. 53, as this forms the simplest and most 
durable connection for the purpose, particularly in shops 
where it is desirable to frequently remove the rods from 
the tanks for cleaning or other purposes. 

It has been customary in many shops to merely place the 
rods across the edge of the tank, allowing them to remain 
in position by their own weight. Others have nailed a strip 
of soft wood across the ends of the tank on which to rest 
the rods. When this strip becomes wet from rod to rod, as 
it frequently does in handling work, where tanks are close 
together, a short circuit is established through the strip of 
wood soaked with solution, a portion of the current is cut 
off from the tank and the dynamo must be worked that 
much harder to furnish sufficient current to the work in the 
tanks. If the strip has been used a number of years it will 
generally be found to contain sufficient metallic salts and 
metal to form a conductor when dry, as well as when wet. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 1 79 

A simple method of insulation may be practiced by thor- 
oughly japanning or varnishing these strips before putting 
them on and then keeping them clean and dry. Another 
method is to use rubber — generally a piece of belting or hose 
— under each rod, with due attention to cleanliness. A bet- 
ter way is to use insulators of porcelain, see Figs. 56 and 59. 
They are cheap and effective, hold the rods firmly in place 
and allow them to be easily removed, either by opening the 
insulators and lifting out the rods or pulling them out length- 
wise if there is room. In this way the rods are held up, free 
from the tanks and drippings from the solution cannot cause 
short circuits. There are more short circuits on tanks than 
most platers realize as an amperemeter will show if one is in 
circuit. 

Too much care cannot be used in keeping up a constant 
inspection of the electrical wiring. Nothing should ever be 
permitted to touch the conductors, and the practice prevalent 
in many shops of allowing the men to hang wires and other 
things on the conductors cannot be too strongly condemned. 
This is especially true where the conductors pass near gas, 
water or steam pipes. Even with due care exercised in these 
inspections short circuits are constantly occurring and one 
of the first things to do when trouble with the dynamo oc- 
curs is to look for short circuits. Many a plater has sent 
to his supply house for assistance with the dynamo and 
had the salesman sent to look after the matter come in and 
take away a bar of metal a file, or other tool which was lying 
across the conductors or touching a conductor and a gas 
pipe. It would seem that a plater ought to know enough to 
find these things himself, but he gets confused and asks for 
assistance when the trouble is plain to the first man who 
enters the room. Sometimes these grounds are more diffi- 
cult to detect. An expert connected with a large eastern 
house gives the following instance : "The writer witnessed 
a test for amperes on a one hundred gallon vat of copper 
solution, the copper solution being in an iron vat connected 



l8o THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

by steam pipes to various parts of the shop. At five volts, 
with the solution at 130 F., two square feet of work took 
320 amperes while an additional two square feet took fifteen 
amperes extra, making 335 amperes for four square feet, or 
320 amperes for "the first two square feet. This test was 
made several times with a Weston instrument and we were 
forced to accept it as true, although all theories were upset 
by the results. We then commenced a search and found that 
the iron tank was grounded to the steam pipes and also 
through the earth. This will account for a great many over- 
loaded dynamos." 

A habitual inspection of the circuit, whether anything 
seems to be wrong or not, will result in saving many times 
the trouble it takes to do it daily. A plating shop is con- 
stantly changing its employes, and while the older men may 
have been trained to let the wires alone, a new man is likely 
to cause a short circuit the first time it is more convenient to 
lay something across the conductor than to put it away. 

Hooks for all anodes, except silver, are usually made of 
copper wire. All these hooks, rods, connecting wires and 
connections, in the well-regulated shops, are kept bright and 
clean. The rods are rubbed with sandpaper or with a wet 
rag and powdered pumice stone. The anode hooks and con- 
nections may be dipped in the bright acid dip, rinsed hot and 
dried. A boy can do this work and if it is attended to every 
morning before beginning plating there will be no delays 
from bad connections as the rods will be always bright and 
clean. 

Some platers have a general cleaning and fixing up day. 
This is poor practice, as it requires a lot of disagreeable work 
to get badly corroded rods into a satisfactory condition. 
When a rod has been allowed to get badly corroded, so that 
it cannot be cleaned by ordinary methods it should.be sent 
to the polishing room and cut down on a canvas wheel, with 
120 emery. 



CHAPTER VII. 

ELECTRICAL MEASURING INSTRUMENTS FOR THE PLATING 

ROOM. 

So much has been said as to the use of measuring instru- 
ments in handling current in the plating room, and the use 
of such instruments among platers is still so limited, that it 
seems advisable to set forth plainly and simply just what 
a measuring instrument is, how it operates and how it is 
installed and used. While this explanation may be unneces- 
sary to a large number of platers, still this work is liable 
to fall into the hands of many beginners and the insertion of 
this matter seems therefore advisable. 

First we will explain the terms used in handling elec- 
tricity, as we shall find them on the dials of our instruments. 
Like other forms of energy, electricity varies in its amount, 
or quantity, its potential or the amount of energy contained 
in a given quantity, and is subject to frictional losses in 
transmission. This requires, therefore, three measurements 
in order to properly understand the amount of energy avail- 
able for work at any given point. In this respect it bears a 
close resemblance to steam, in that it requires special appar- 
atus for its transmission, is subject to frictional losses, to 
leakage if the system of transmission be faulty, and varies 
in the amount of energy transmitted in a given time, accord- 
ing to the initial pressure given it when starting upon its 
journey. As very much more energy is transmitted through 
a steam pipe with the steam at 200 pounds pressure than 
with the steam at 10 pounds, so more electrical energy is 
transmitted through a wire at 200 volts than at 10 volts. 

181 



i52 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

Both are subject to loss of pressure through friction and 
heating of the conductor if the size of that conductor be in- 
sufficient for the work it is called upon to perform. Thus 
we see that the analogy is close. Like every other standard 
of measurement, the electrical standards were arbitrarily 
selected and adopted by common consent. They are the 
ohm, volt and ampere. 

The ohm is the unit of resistance, or frictional measure. 
It is very nearly equal to the resistance of pure copper wire, 
250 feet in length and one-twentieth of an inch in diameter. 

The volt is the unit of pressure. It is such a pressure as 
will pass one ampere of current through one ohm in one 
second. 

The ampere is that quantity of current which will pass 
through one ohm in one second at one volt pressure. 

The various* standards can be purchased or devised in 
various ways, so that they can be used in making and mark- 
ing the dials of commercial measuring instruments, and as 
the subject of electrical measurement is so vast and there is 
so much literature on the subject which is readily obtainable 
by those who desire to go into it at length, it is unnecessary 
for us to treat it further here. 

The mechanical generation of electricity depends upon the 
fact that current is generated by passing a copper wire 
across the lines of magnetic force proceeding from the poles 
of a magnet. This is our dynamo. We have also the 
further fact that copper wire wrapped around a piece of soft 
iron will render it magnetic when current passes through the 
wire. This being the case, if we take a magnet, fix soft iron 
so that it can revolve between the pole and wind it with wire, 
we shall have two magnets (one between the poles of the 
other), whenever current passes. As like poles repel each 
other, we now pass the current through the wire in such a 
way as to make the soft iron poles have the same magnetic 
polarity as the poles nearest them in the permanent magnet, 
when the soft iron magnet will tend to move away from the 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



133 



other. The extent of its motion will depend upon the 
strength of its magnetism and if we attach a pointer to the 
axis on which the magnet is suspended and place a scale 
under the outer end of the pointer, we can by the use of our 
standards graduate the scale so that the pointer will indi- 
cate the pressure or intensity of the current flowing in the 
wire surrounding the soft iron suspended magnet. All the 
older instruments were thus constructed but later it was 




Fig. 60. View showing construction of Weston Voltmeters and 
Ammeters. 



found that the helix of wire contained magnetic lines enough 
to dispense with the iron core and they are now made in that 
way. 

Fig. 60 illustrates the working portion of such a measur- 
ing instrument without its case. It can be proportioned and 
the scale graduated to indicate pressure in volts, in which 
case it is called a voltmeter ; or it can be made to indicate 
quantity and it is then called an amperemeter, or ammeter. 



184 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

In the illustration we see the two ends of a large, heavy 
permanent magnet, the poles of the magnet being curved and 
one of them cut away in order to show the construction. 
Suspended on two jeweled pivots is a soft iron core, inside 
of the yoke of aluminum which is wound with very fine 
copper wire. The soft iron core makes the magnetic lines 
uniform throughout the field, so that the current in the fine 
copper wire in the yoke, when it moves, will move over a 
uniform field of magnetism and thus enable us to get nearly 
equal divisions on the scale. At the top and bottom are two 
bronze spiral springs which serve to return the yoke to a 
position of rest. The current enters and leaves the fine wire 
through these springs which thus serve the double purpose 
of making connection and of returning the index to its posi- 
tion. The light aluminum pointer, which moves over the 
scale is shown attached to the yoke and projecting from it at 
right angles. Enclosed within the case, but not shown 
within the illustration, are resistance coils which serve to 
cut down the amount of current allowed to pass into the fine 
wire on the yoke and thus prevent it from burning out. 
The amount of current used in such a measuring instrument 
is between one-hundredth and one-thousandth of an ampere. 
The construction for voltmeter and amperemeter is the same 
except in regard to the quantity of resistance and the amount 
of current used, the amperemeter being an extremely sensi- 
tive voltmeter with a different scale over which the needle 
moves. Voltmeters are made to record as low as one-thou- 
sandth volt. Such an instrument is called a millivoltmeter 
and the amperemeter is simply one of these extremely sensi- 
tive instruments with a different scale. They are very finely 
made, move on jewels like the pivots of a watch, and are 
constructed of material having such resistance that they may 
be left permanently in circuit. The amount of electricity 
used is too insignificant to be noticed and hence all cost 
connected with their use is limited to the installation of the 
instrument and any breakage that may be encountered dur- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 1S5 

ing its use. As the instruments for' platers are strongly en- 
cased and fixed against the wall, liability to accident is very 
slight, and if the instruments are used within the range for 
which they are calibrated, so as not to burn them out, they 
will last a lifetime. 

There is much more to the subject of voltmeters and am- 
meters than this, of course, but as we only desire to explain 
the principles of working we will not enter upon the discus- 
sion of mathematical, magnetic and mechanical questions 
connected with the manufacture of measuring instruments. 




Fig. 61. Voltmeter showing outer case, index and scale. 

The voltmeter is about as useful to the plater as is the 
steam gauge to the engineer. In case the current falls off 
from any cause, a pressure on the button of the voltmeter 
will detect it and trouble may be located and remedied before 
it is necessary to replate a lot of work. As the quan- 
tity of current passing through a tank bears a definite rela- 
tion to the pressure of that current, the value of knowing 
the pressure instead of guessing at it may be readily seen, 
particularly, when the plater is running solutions requiring 
different pressures from the our dynamo, as is the case when 
using silver, copper, nickel and brass solutions all at one 
time. 



1 86 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



Fig. 61 shows a voltmeter in its case, the terminals for 
connections not being visible in the illustration. Fig. 62 
shows a method of mounting a voltmeter on a board so as 
to get a number of connections to various points arranged to 
use conveniently with one instrument. In this case the but- 
ton marked -f- is wired to the voltmeter terminal and this is 
to be connected with the positive main conductor of the 
dynamo and any one of the lower binding posts to the nega- 
tive main conductor, so that closing the circuit on this post 




Fig. 62. 



Showing voltmeter on switchboard adapted to connect at 
points in the electrical circuit of the plating room. 



will give the pressure on the mains. A wire runs from the in- 
strument through a groove in the back of the board to the post 
of the switch, and each knob in the arc of the circle is wired 
in the same way to a separate binding post below it. The tank 
wires are connected to these posts, which are numbered to 
correspond with the switch knobs, for convenience, and 
the plater can see his pressure on any tank or the main line 
by swinging his switch lever to the button connected with 
that tank and looking at the dial of his voltmeter. No. 20 
insulated copper wire should be used in wiring up such a 
board and the connections in all cases should be made be- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



187 



tween the tank and the rheostat. Fig. 63 shows such a 
board wired to two tanks and the dynamo. These instru- 
ments are cheap and may be obtained from any supply house, 
either singly as in Fig. 61 , or mounted for any desired num- 
ber of connections as in Figs. 62 and 63. 

The amperemeter, while not so important as the voltmeter, 
is an extremely useful instrument, as it will show directly 
the number of amperes you are using on any tank or the 
main line. By its use the plater is enabled to say with cer- 




Fig. 63. Voltmeter wired to two tanks and main line. 

tainty just what quantity of current he is using per foot of 
surface in any tank, thus giving the current density and how 
much altogether. It is extremely useful in locating leaks 
and grounds and in telling exactly how much current can be 
carried on any lead or tap wire, thus pointing out the trouble 
if the wire is too small. For instance, in the case related in 
the previous chapter, the ammeter detected an enormous 
leakage by grounding , in the iron tank, where the voltmeter 
would merely assure the plater that he had a certain pres- 
sure. The amperemeter may be mounted similarly to the 
voltmeter, as shown in Fig. 63 and placed alongside of it, 
and if these boards are large enough to contain sufficient 



l88 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

binding posts and switch buttons, they may be wired to. a 
number of points on the main line besides the tanks. Or if 
the plater will take a coil of double covered No. 20 office 
wire, attach one end to a binding post on the board and 
apply the other to the negative main conductor at various 
places, he will be able to see the drop in pressure at various 
distances on his mains or any other point. Such testing will 
discover grounds, insufficient sizes of wire, bad connections 
and a host of other things which he needs to know.. After 
such a test the wire may be coiled up again and kept for 
future use. Care should be exercised to get a good connec- 
tion before making a reading. The day will come when both 
these instruments will be considered necessities in the well- 
conducted plating room. 

Rheostats, or "switchboards," as they are commonly 
termed by platers, have had a steady growth and develop- 
ment but are subject to still further improvement. The 
original rheostat was simply some German silver wire 
stretched on a board between tacks, with a switch lever at the 
bottom of the board, something like Fig. 64. This answered 
well for a battery, but would burn up in fifteen minutes if 
placed in a modern dynamo circuit. The principle was re- 
tained and the apparatus modified by insulating the metallic 
parts and making the wire of smaller size in each step so as 
to make a greater difference in the reducing power of the 
successive steps. Fig. 64 represents the modern rheostat of 
this form ; flat ribbons of metal have been substituted for the 
round wire and these ribbons vary in thickness on successive 
steps as previously described, so that while the width is uni- 
form the amount of metal, and consequently the conduc- 
tivity, is less. The thin ribbon exposes a much larger sur- 
face to the air than a round wire of similar mass, so that 
the heat is radiated faster and the rheostat will stay cool with 
a larger amount of current passing through it. The base 
is of slate and the springs at the upper ends of the strips pro- 
vide for expansion with the heat. The flat ends also pro- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



l8 9 



vide for a good contact with the bars of the switch board 
at their points of attachment, which is one of the weak 
places in a modern rheostat. 



(It 



c 



Fig. 64. Rheostat with thin ribbons of resistance metal on slate base. 

The trouble in making a permanent joint at this point in 
all rheostats arises from the difference of ratios of expan- 
sion if the contact bar and resistance strip are of different 
metals, as the same amount of heat will expand one more 



I90 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

than the other and if, for instance, an iron wire be put in a 
hole in a brass bar the brass will expand more than the wire 
and leave the wire loose in the hole which fits it tightly when 
cold. If this is very pronounced it makes a bad connection, 
which will steadily grow worse with use, and the rate of re- 
duction of the current may in time be sensibly altered by the 
corrosion induced by the bad contact. If this matter be 
properly looked after in building them no trouble need be 
experienced on this point, however, unless the plater takes 
his rheostat apart for cleaning or other purposes ; when this 
is the case he should pay particular attention to the attach- 
ment of the sections to their bars. 

The contact surfaces of the bars and the similar surfaces 
of the switch lever should also be constantly looked after 
while the rheostat is in use. Unless they fit each other per- 
fectly all over the contact surfaces, the current will pass 
in continuous arc between all surfaces which are separated 
from one-hundredth to one-thousandth of an inch and this 
arcing of the current will corrode the surfaces until a proper 
contact is impossible. When this happens the surfaces of 
bars and lever must be reground by putting a paste of oil 
and tripoli on them and working them back and forth until 
good contact all over is again established after which it 
must be thoroughly cleaned. This is the weakest point of most 
of the rheostats now in use, and they fail here most rapidly 
when the contact surfaces are small in proportion to the 
amount of current they have to carry. Arcing will also be 
caused in this way if the springs which hold the lever down 
firmly on the bars are allowed to get loose, or get "set/' i. e., 
lose their elasticity. 

It is a good plan to measure a new rheostat and make a 
table of the volts and amperes it will carry when putting 
it up. Then if you suspect trouble here you can get out your 
table, go to your voltmeter and test the rheostat, step by step, 
comparing it with the same steps in your table. Bad con- 
tacts and any consequent change in the carrying capacity of 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



I 9 I 



the rheostat will thus be shown at once. This table is also 
of great convenience to refer to when questions of current 
density and variation of solutions come up, as they fre- 
quently do. 




Fig. 05. Rheostat^with twenty steps. 



Fig-. 65 shows a rheostat with twenty steps. It is similar 
in principle to Fig. 64, but differs from it in using round 
wire of varying diameter which is curled up to save space 
and in having the switch lever pivoted in its center and 
making contact at both ends. It is made of varying capacity 
and varying number of steps, so as to cheapen the cost on 
special solutions. The rheostat shown in the illustration has 
been measured and the following table of its carrying ca- 
pacity will be instructive to many platers as illustrating the 
ratio of reduction in quantity of current, which does not fol- 
low the same proportions as the reduction in pressure. 



i 9 : 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



VOLTAGE AND AMPERE CAPACITY. VOLTAGE AT TANK WITH BAR ON. 

Volts. Amperes. 

ist segment of Rheostat 4.5 300 

2d " 44 290 

3d 4-2 275 

4th 4.1 260 

5th " 3.9 250 

6th "■ ........ 3.7 225 

7th ■.■•3-3 200 

8th " " " 31 185 

9th '.' ...3. 180 

10th " 2.9 170 

nth " " " 2.8 160 

12th " 2.7 150 

13th " 2.6 135 

14th " 2.5 125 

15th " 2.4 120 

16th " 2.3 115 

17th " 2.2 no 

18th " 2. 80 

I9th " " " 1.9 75 

20th " " " 1.8 70 

The chief fault found with the ordinary rheostat is its 
lack of a universal range. The range is of course limited 
by the number of steps and the more of these the better, if 
there is a great variation in work. If the work runs mod- 
erately even, as in a manufacturing establishment, a stove 
shop, for instance, or a hollow ware factory, four or five 
steps may be enough for current regulation. But if it be 
a job shop and the man in charge be required to plate one 
stove leg in a 250-gallon tank of nickel then in addition to 
cutting down the current to the limit of the rheostat, he will 
probably have to hang an anode on each side of the stove 
leg, on the cathode rod, to take the brunt of the current and 
keep it from burning the work. Increasing the number of 
steps increases the cost of the rheostat, of course, but it is 
the opinion of most platers that the present range of these 
instruments should be added to at both ends, as they are 
subject to undue heating with tanks full of work and fail 
by giving too much current for one or two pieces. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



93 



Figs. 66 and 67 show a new rheostat which is said to work- 
on an entirely different principle from those previously de- 
scribed. There is an absolute drop to a definite stand- 
ard when the current enters the rheostat and subsequent 




Fig. 60. New Rheostat. The lower bars each carry ten amperes, the 
upper bars each carry one ampere; giving variations of one ampere 
up to fifty amperes. 

manipulations do not change the voltage or pressure, but do 
change the amperes, or quantity. In Fig. 66 are shown two 
sets of switchbars, each with its own lever; each of the bars 
in the lower set will carry ten amperes of current at the 
predetermined drop in voltage ; the upper set shows contact 



: 9 4 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



bars of spring phosphor-bronze, staggered, so that they may 
be switched on one at a time by turning the lever, the ends 
of the levers are large enough to come in contact with all the 
bars at once, when the entire current capacity of the machine 
will be transmitted. The frame consists of a finished slate 
front mounted on a skeleton box frame of japanned cast iron. 
On the opposite side of the slate within the box frame are 
the corresponding resistance units, see Fig. 67. These units 




Fig. 67. Interior view of Fig. 66, showing resistance bars in porcelain 



are of a special metal fused in porcelain and attached to their 
respective contact pieces. They are made in various sizes 
and with initial drop in voltage according to the circuit on 
which they are to be used. 

One further point needs to be taken into consideration in 
studying the line connections, which is that where the con- 
ducting mains are shown to be faulty, so that they drop the 
pressure continuously with the increase of distance from the 
tank, and the plater is not allowed to increase the size of his 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 



'95 



mains to what they should he, he can often minimize the evil 
by placing the solutions in his tanks so that those requiring 
the highest voltage will be nearest the dynamo, where the 
pressure is greatest and those requiring the lowest voltage 




Fig. 68. Showing Rheostat in Field of Dynamos. 

shall be farthest away where the pressure is least. This is 
simply making the best of a bad state of effairs, but it will 
often help out considerably where it can be done. In such 
cases the rheostats, if they are alike, will give different pres- 
sures and different quantities of current on the correspond- 
ing segments at each tank for the roasor. that the tank pres- 
sure is less as they get further away, so that nothing should 
be taken for granted but a separate table made for each one 
from actual readings while at work. 

In using the ampere meter, one peculiarity of the electrical 
distribution of power should not be forgotten. That is, the 



I96 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

generation of current is in proportion to the work to be done. 
Thus if you are testing a rheostat with a capacity of 350 am- 
peres, you will not get 350 amperes unless your tank is so full 
of work and anodes that such an amount will pass through 
the solution, and the voltage is high enough to put it through. 
Similarly, if you are using a new dynamo which has a capac- 
ity of 2000 amperes you will not get 2000 amperes, unless 
you have a 2000-ampere load on the machine. This pe- 
culiarity of generating current only in proportion to the 
load is what makes the electrical distribution of power 
so economical, in addition to its convenience, as previously 
stated in the chapters on polishing, but it is apt to show in 
so many ways that the beginner in measurements is likely 
to be misled unless he bears it in mind when using the 
ammeter. 

The use of shunt wound and compound wound machines 
allows us to change the voltage of the machine at will, with- 
in the limits for which it is wound. This is done by plac- 
ing a rheostat in circuit with the field coils of the dynamo 
so that by moving the lever of the rheostat we can increase 
or diminish the amount of current passing through the 
dynamo field coils and consequently change the strength of 
the field magnets. If a greater number of magnetic lines 
are cut by the rotation of the armature wires the voltage will 
rise ; if less, it diminishes. We can thus change the voltage 
in a ten-volt machine to anywhere between four and ten 
volts, by altering the field rheostat. This is useful by al- 
lowing us to raise the voltage enough to compensate for the 
drop in pressure when the conductor is too small, provided 
that we do not at the same time introduce other troubles, 
such as burning the work in the tanks which are nearest 
the dynamo. It allows the use of high voltage on solutions 
which require it and saves power and burning of work by 
reducing the output of the machine when little work is be- 
ing done and that little requires low voltage, such as silver 
or copper. Such rheostats should always be obtained from 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. I97 

the builder of the machine, when it is desired to use them, 
as he has the mechanical and electrical data on which the 
dynamo was built and can supply the rheostat which will 
fit, whereas others would have to guess at it. In ordering 
such a rheostat the purchaser should always state expressly 
what it is for and give the make, size and number of the 
dynamo. 

In adjusting rheostats they should be placed as near to 
the tanks as possible and in the line leading to the cathode 
rod. The wire should be cut and the severed ends inserted 
in the binding posts of the rheostat, being careful to use 
the largest wire which will fit the connection on the rheo- 
stat. The lever of the rheostat should rest on the weak 
point when work is put into the tank, then the lever should 
be turned toward the strong point until a suitable current 
is obtained. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

GOLD PLATING AND GILDING. * 

Of the many branches of electroplating perhaps the ma- 
nipulation of the gilding and gold-plating solutions requires 
the greatest degree of skill and taste. This is due to the 
cost of the metal and to the necessity of obtaining the very 
best and richest shades of gold while using as little gold as 
possible to cover a given surface. Generally speaking the 
most skillful gold plater or gilder is he who can make a 
given amount of gold cover the greatest surface and obtain 
the proper color and finish. For that reason gold plating 
and gilding in shops where any considerable amount is done, 
has fallen into the hands of specialists. Platers who may 
be first-class workmen upon nickel, copper, silver or any of 
the other classes of work, and who have had no special 
training upon gold work can do gold plating because they 
understand the general principles of plating, but the results 
are usually very inferior and unsatisfactory, the colors being 
generally pale, brassy, or of a sickly dull shade, while gold 
generally requires brilliancy and life, or those warm restful 
shades so pleasing to the eye of the critic and the lovers of 
art. This pertains as much to plating, especially in gold, 
as it does to painting or any of the other fine arts. Then, 
again, the plater without the special experience not only 
fails to obtain satisfactory results, but he very often de- 
posits more gold than is necessary and sometimes more than 
the finished job is worth. Those are perhaps the principal 
reasons why this branch of the business has fallen into the 
hands of specialists. 

198 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



199 



Books on electroplating generally treat the subjects in too 
general a way, taking for granted that the operator already 
knows what is left unwritten, or that he will find it out by 
experience, which is usually dearly bought experience, espe- 
cially with gold work. In no branch of the trade is that 
slip-shod manner of treating the subject so true as in gold 
plating, leaving out apparently simple instructions which 
are of vital importance to beginners and those of limited 
experience. 

Perhaps it will be well to state that the writer of this 
chapter has had a wide experience upon gold work of all 
classes and has been at the head of the gold plating and 
gilding department of one of the largest houses in the 
country, handling plated jewelry, buckles, purses and bags, 
metal picture frames and other novelties. 

So it will be the particular aim in this chapter to give 
the most approved methods of doing gold work ; to use the 
most plain and simple language ; and also to go into all 
necessary details, so that there can be no misunderstanding 
as to what is meant. At the same time, the fine points re- 
quired by the experienced plater, who may be seeking 
knowledge to help him through a temporary difficulty, will 
not be overlooked. It is hoped that by following these in- 
structions any one with the desire and opportunity for prac- 
tice may become a proficient workman. But it must be 
remembered that in this as in any other art, the most suc- 
cessful man is he who is wrought with enthusiasm for his 
work and who has full confidence in his ability to obtain any 
color or finish desired. He must not only have this, but he 
must be able to recognize the beauty" of a finish when 
obtained. He must work eye, brain and hand to obtain the 
most pleasing results. 

Art is art in whatever line it may be found, and people 
with either a natural or a cultivated taste for things beauti- 
ful are able to recognize it in whatever form it may be 
found. The proper blending of colors and shades is as 



200 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

necessary in finishing an article as it is that the article have 
the proper shape and curves. The coloring and finishing 
should be such as to harmonize with its surroundings. Here 
it is that the plater must use his utmost skill and cunning. 

Considerable attention should be given to the details in ar- 
ranging the necessary appliances for gold plating and for 
the preliminary preparation of the work. Of course their ar- 
rangement will depend largely upon the nature and quantity 
of the work which is to be plated. The subject is too large 
to attempt to go into details as to the best arrangement for 
any special class of work. The hot solutions should be 
heated in a water bath, but this bath may be heated by oil, 
gas, or steam, according to circumstances. We will attempt 
to give the best methods in use upon all ordinary work and 
also the formulas for solutions which we know from prac- 
tical experience will give satisfactory results upon the classes 
of work for which they are recommended. 

Scratch brushes are indispensable for gilding and gold 
plating. They consist of circular wheels of one, two, three 
or more rows of soft crimped medium, or coarse wire, 
which is usually of brass. These wheels may be obtained 
from two to six inches in diameter, but those from three to 
four inches in diameter are most used upon ordinary work ; 
then there are wheels called goblet brushes for inside work, 
such as the scratch brushing of the inside of hollow ware 
pieces to be gilded ; there are also small end brushes for the 
brushing of the inside of finger rings, the insides of match 
boxes or any other small pieces which must be cleaned for 
gilding. There are also steel wire wheels of different sizes. 
These are sometimes used in place of brass scratch wheels, 
but do not give satisfaction, as their use gives the plated 
article a dull shade which brass wheels do not. They are 
most useful as satin-finish wheels where a very fine mat or 
satin-finish effect is required. Upon small gold or plated 
articles the different sizes of steel wire wheels will be found 
very useful. An assortment of wheels of various shapes, 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 201 

sizes and number of rows will be necessary where consider- 
able work of different kinds is handled. With scratch 
wheels, as with polishing wheels, when once put on the lathe 
and used they should always be put on the same way after- 
wards ; if it is turned and run backward it is liable to scratch 
the work and spoil the wheel. 

The lathe for scratch brushing work for gilding should, 
if possible, be used for nothing else. It is a bad plan to use 
the same lathe for scouring work with pumice, or for pol- 
ishing, as in that case you are sure to get more or less grit 
and grease upon your gold work, which is a serious draw- 
back to first-class work. Have the scratch brush lathe con- 
veniently near the gold solutions, if possible, as this will save 
many steps in the course of a day. It should be arranged 
so that it may be stopped and started easily on account of 
the necessity of changing wheels often in handling articles of 
many shapes and finishes, requiring to be brushed with 
wheels of different shapes and grades of wire. Probably the 
most convenient arrangement is to have tight and loose 
pulleys upon the lathe spindle, the belt being easily shifted 
from one to the other as required. As little oil as possible 
should be used upon this lathe and counter shaft to prevent 
its coming in contact with the wheels, work, or the scratch 
brush liquid. 

All scratch brushing either of gold or silver is done wet ; 
there are several liquids used for this purpose, all of them 
giving very good satisfaction. Perhaps the best and cleanest 
thing to use is soapwood bark ; it is the bark of a tree and 
may be obtained in a powder or in small chips. A small 
handful is put to steep in a convenient dish by pouring hot 
water upon if in the evening; next morning it is ready for 
use. This will not sour or ferment easily, and where it is 
not used enough to become dirty, may be used several d 
without changing. Stale beer is very good and is used by 
many for scratch brushing, but it has the fault of becoming 
sticky after being used for a time. Then in some shops it 



202 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

seems to be a difficult matter to keep beer on hand long 
enough to become stale, especially in warm weather. As a 
substitute for the above, when they are not obtainable, a 
little sal soda or lye may be added to the water, just enough 
to make it slippery or smooth. 

The arrangements for applying the liquid to the work are 
many ; some platers use an ordinary pan under the wheel 
into which the liquid is placed and then applied to the work 
and the wheel as required while brushing. A suitable can 
may be set on a standard or hung from the ceiling above the 
wheel and back of it. The can should have a small pipe or 
tube attached to the bottom with a stopcock near the can to 
regulate the flow. The discharge from the pipe should be 
just over the front side of the brush, near to it, but not to 
drop upon the brush, as that would throw the liquid. If it 
drops just in front of the brush it will fall upon the work 
being brushed, which is as it should be. A temporary can 
may be made that will answer the purpose by making a hole 
near the bottom of the can and placing a stick in the hole 
long enough to carry the liquid to the front of the brush. 
Have a small notch in the stick at the hole in the can to allow 
sufficient flow of the liquid. If the stick is given sufficient 
slant this will be found to work very well. 

Some platers place a hood over their scratch brush lathes 
to prevent any water from flying. They stand at the end 
of the lathe with the point of the spindle towards them while 
working. This is the method used in many English shops, 
but where time is of importance this method would prove 
too slow, as the hood would interfere with the speed of 
handling the work. 

In gold plating articles that must be wired up, the smallest 
wire that will answer the purpose should be used, as, of 
course, the larger the wire and the more of it there is in the 
solution the more gold will there be deposited upon it. For 
this reason the same wires should be used as often as pos- 
sible or until they begin to break, when they may be annealed 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 203 

by heating to redness and dropping in water. When too 
brittle for use they should be saved and the gold stripped off 
when a sufficient quantity of wire has accumulated. 

As in other plating, it is necessary to have handy a kettle 
of hot lye; a bountiful supply of clean hot and clear cold 
water. A box of boxwood sawdust should be at hand for 
drying the gilded articles. In purchasing this boxwood saw- 
dust it is wise to be sure that if is clean and free from glue 
of any kind ; in some of it, which is made from wood which 
has been worked up into patterns, or furniture, or anything 
else where glue has been used, the particles of glue are 
mixed through the sawdust and readily stick to the wet, 
gilded article as it comes in contact with the sawdust, thus 
smearing the work and spoiling the finish. In some cases 
this requires the article to be refinished and perhaps regilded 

Roman Gold or Twenty-four Karat Gold. — For gild- 
ing all small articles of jewelry, such as rings, chains, lock- 
ets, pins, buckles, etc., the hot solution is usually used, as it 
deposits rapidly and the color when properly manipulated 
ranges through a large number of shades, according to the 
wishes of the operator. 

To Make Twenty-four Karat Solution. — The first 
thing to decide is the quantity of solution that will be neces- 
sary to accommodate your line of work. Generally the gold 
solution is made just large enough to take the pieces to be 
plated handily ; for all small work, such as jewelry, buckles, 
or small novelties, a half-gallon or one gallon of solution is 
all that is required. 

In a half-gallon solution, from three to six penny weights 
of fine gold may be used. When using the smaller amount, of 
course, the gold in the solution will run out and the solution 
will become deficient in metal much sooner, so that it will 
not give satisfactory results as long as will the solution con- 
taining five to six pennyweights to the half gallon ; but while 



204 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

there is sufficient gold in the solution the results will be satis- 
factory. 

In preparing the solution first weigh the gold to determine 
just how much you wish to put into the solution ; then roll it 
out as thin as possible with jewelers' rolls. Heat gently with 
a blow pipe to a red heat. When cool cut it up into small 
pieces and place it into a porcelain lined evaporating dish 
which should be kept for this special purpose. Then add, by 
measure with a graduating glass, two parts of C. P. muri- 
atic acid and one part C. P. nitric acid. Add the nitric acid 
slowly, stirring with a glass rod. Now place the dish in a 
sand bath over a gentle heat, which may be increased some- 
what as the dish becomes warm. Do not use too much heat 
or you will drive off the acid before the gold is dissolved. 
It should boil up somewhat and fume as the acid becomes 
hot and reduces the gold. Usually an ounce of muriatic 
and one-half of nitric acid will suffice to cut down five penny- 
weights of gold. 

It is immaterial if a little too much acid is added ; the 
only drawback is that it takes that much longer for the acid 
to evaporate ; but the proportions should be nearly exact. 
If too little acid is added, some of the pieces of gold will 
remain undissolved and a little more acid should then be 
mixed and added to the dish until all metallic gold disap- 
pears. Then the dish should be allowed to remain upon the 
heated sand until the acid evaporates to the consistency of 
syrup and has a reddish-brown color. The heat should now 
be reduced and- the dish allowed to remain on the sand, tip- 
ping it from side to side occasionally to spread and evaporate 
the acid quicker, and also to prevent the gold from burning 
to the side of the dish. Care must be taken to avoid using 
heat, enough while evaporating the acid to cause the gold to 
burn on to the sides of the dish, as in this case it becomes a 
metallic powder and more acid must be added and the gold 
redissolved, thus delaying the operation. 

Now this brown deposit upon the bottom and sides of the 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 205 

dish is the chloride of gold and many platers rinse out the 
dish when cool and add the gold in this slate to the solution 
dish, adding enough cyanide of potash to neutralize any 
remaining acid and take up the gold in solution. Where a 
pure gold solution is required for fine gilding this practice 
cannot be recommended, for the reason that nearly all so- 
called fine gold, which is supposed to be twenty-four karat, 
is usually twenty-three or even twenty-two karat. Conse- 
quently, if you use the gold as it is cut down, without any 
precaution for removing any alloy which may have been in 
the gold, your solution cannot be a fine gold solution, but 
will contain the alloy which was in the metal before dis- 
solving with acid. This alloy usually consists of silver or 
copper. Either .metal, if present, will have detrimental ef- 
fects upon the deposit. 

To avoid the possibility of getting any foreign metal in 
the fine gold solution, take two sheets of filter paper of con- 
venient size (one breaks too easily when wet) ; place the 
folded paper in a glass funnel, wet the paper with a little 
cold distilled water ; then rinse down the sides of the evap- 
orating dish containing the gold with warm distilled water 
and run it through the filter, pouring it slowly into the filter 
and letting the filter discharge into the vessel which is to 
contain the solution. If there is any alloy in the gold a sedi- 
ment will be present in the evaporating dish when the water 
is added. All the contents of the evaporating dish should be 
poured into the funnel. Nothing but the gold which has 
been dissolved will go through the paper. When a sufficient 
quantity of distilled or pure soft water has been added to 
make the required amount of solution, C. P. cyanide of 
potash should be added in small quantities and the solution 
should be stirred with a glass rod until it assumes an almost 
colorless appearance, when it will be ready for use. This 
solution is worked hot and the temperature at which it is 
kept has much to do with the color of the deposit. The 
proper temperature for obtaining a fine yellow or Roman 



206 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

gold is from 120 to 130 F. If the solution is run at about 
8o° to 90 F., the color will be lighter and more brassy, or 
pale, while if the temperature is run up to 140 F. or more, 
the deposit will be of a darker or reddish shade. 

The amount of current also has considerable effect upon 
the color of the deposit, a weak current producing the lighter 
shades, a medium current the rich yellow color, while the 
stronger the current used the redder will be the color. 

Ten pennyweights of fine gold makes a very convenient 
anode for this solution. It should be rolled out about one 
inch wide and from two to three inches long. It should be 
annealed before using, as it will then dissolve much more 
readily with a weak current. The rule that the anode surface 
should be as large as the cathode surface, or nearly so, does 
not apply to gold plating. In fact, the object being plated 
may be and often is ten times as large as the anode. Gener- 
ally speaking, anything that can be gotten into the solution 
may be gilded with an anode of the size mentioned above. 
The reasons for this are that fine gold is very readily dis- 
solved and deposited by electricity. Gold anodes, either fine 
or alloyed, should be removed from the solution when not 
in use, the cyanide in the solution having a tendency to dis- 
solve the gold. The action is very slow and an hour or two 
more or less in the solution may make very little difference. 
But there will be a noticeable difference in the weight of a 
gold anode allowed to remain in the solution over night. It 
is best to use a platinum wire for connecting the gold anode, 
especially where a twenty-four-karat solution and anode are 
used and fine coloring is desired. The platinum wire is not 
affected by the current. Consequently it will last indefinite- 
ly ; from three to four inches is all that will be required, just 
enough to attach one end to the anode and the other to the 
anode wire, thus keeping the copper wire from coming in 
contact and becoming dissolved by the current in the gold 
solution. Of course, this practice is not necessary for karat 
solutions and is only recommended where the finer grades of 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 207 

gilding- are required. The solution being used hot gives it 
greater conductivity. 

A surprising amount of plating or gilding may be done 
with one-half gallon of gold solution and a ten-pennyweight 
anode. If handled with skill and economy such a solution, 
where used every day, will give good results from five to 
six weeks and will turn out anywhere from $100 to $150 
worth of work at ordinary prices. 

It is generally best to make a new solution after the old 
one has been used for some time and the deposit becomes off 
color, though by filtering and adding a little fresh chloride 
of gold the old solution may be made to give good results 
again. 

If insufficient cyanide is added to the solution the deposit 
will be very slow and off color; if too much cyanide is 
present the color is liable to be pale or brassy. At times the 
gilding may come off when being scratch brushed ; this is 
usually caused by a surplus of cyanide; the solution being 
too hot will also cause it, as the deposit is forced on too 
fast and does not properly adhere to the article being plated. 
In this case the heat and current should both be reduced. 
Gilding solutions usually become too red with age, giving 
more of a brown color rather than a fine gold color. This 
may be remedied by the addition of very small quantities of 
silver solution, not more than a tablespoonful to the gallon, 
as too much would give a green shade, which is not desired 
in ordinary gilding. 

Preparation of Work. — In preparing the work for gild- 
ing all grease and dirt should be removed by the use of hot 
lye, followed by scratch brushing with a soft, brass wire, 
circular brush, suitable for the class of work, 
brushing the work wet, using one of the fluids 
previously described. This should leave the work 
clean and bright. Then it is rinsed in clean water and 
wired and immersed immediately in the gilding solution. 
In gilding the stringing wire is not twisted or hung on to the 



2o8 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

battery wire or rod, but is held against it by the operator, 
as the work is in the bath so short a time. Connection should 
be made before the work touches the bath. For coloring 
small work, where the finish is more the object of the opera- 
tion than the thickness or amount of gold deposited, the 
work should not remain in the gilding solution for more than 
a few seconds for the first operation, and it should be agi- 
tated or moved from side to side continually, which insures 
a brilliant and even deposit. Then the articles should be 
quickly removed, rinsed in a special vessel of hot water, 
which, if kept clean and free from dust and dirt, may be used 
to fill up the gilding solution as it evaporates. After rinsing 
the article is scratch brushed lightly, using plenty of soap- 
wood water or stale beer. This burnishes the gold down 
evenly all over the article and it is then rinsed again in 
clean water and again immersed in the gilding solution for 
a few seconds. Watch the work closely and remove it as 
soon as the desired color is obtained. Do not scratch brush 
after the last immersion, but rinse in cold and then in clean 
hot water and dry in boxwood sawdust. This finishes the 
operation, unless some parts of the article are to be bur- 
nished. Or perhaps it may be work that will be improved 
by lacquering. 

There is no end to the different classes of small articles 
that require gilding in the shape of both expensive gold 
jewelry, cheap jewelry and novelties. Nearly all fine jew- 
elry is gilded for one purpose or another. It may be to. get 
one of the several different effects, such as Roman gold, 
Guinea gold, Old English gold, Rose gold and so on, or it 
may be that the gilding is only intended to give uniformity 
to the back or inside of a piece or to hide any discolorations 
caused by the pickle or fire and to facilitate the polishing. 

It seems to be one of the difficult things in gold plating 
and gilding, especially the latter, to get little enough gold 
on the surface of the article being gilded. It is the prevail- 
ing idea among amateurs. in this line that articles should be 



TIIK POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 209 

allowed to remain in the solution for some time, as is clone 
with other plating, such as silver or nickel. This is a 
mistake and it forms one of the principal causes for failure 
to make money in gold plating. The rule in silver or nickel 
plating" is usually to get sufficient deposit ; the finishing bc- 
ing a secondary matter. The reverse is the case in gilding or 
gold plating; the object here is generally to get the desired 
finish or color as quickly as possible, with the expenditure 
of as little gold as can be used. Usually, when the desired 
shade is obtained sufficient gold has been deposited. This is 
the plan in handling all cheap work. Of course, work re- 
quiring a heavy gold plate, for which a good price is paid, 
takes longer, is given several immersions in the solution and 
the immersions are of longer duration. They depend en- 
tirely upon the thickness of deposit required. But, in any 
event, the work is never allowed to hang suspended in a 
hot gold solution for any length of time ; the solution being 
hot, the gold is deposited very rapidly, and if allowed to 
hang undisturbed the deposit would soon become very heavy, 
but soft and spongy, presenting a poor appearance and not 
possessing the necessary wearing qualities. The proper 
method is to hold the work while plating, agitating gently 
and removing it every few seconds and scratch brushing, 
then repeating the process as often as necessary to obtain 
the desired thickness of deposit. 

Roman gold usually requires a chased or matted surface 
effect to bring out the color of the gold in its most brilliant 
shades. The matting is done by the use of the sand blast, 
using a suitable grade of sand according to the grade of 
finish required, fine or coarse. Where a dead or dull finish 
is required the sand blast is the proper thing to use before 
gilding the object, after which it is prepared in the ordinary 
way for gilding. All manufacturing jewelry shops, no mat- 
ter how small, have a sand blast. Tn fact, it would be diffi- 
cult to do without one where much gilding is done, as it is 
available on work where a wheel cannol be used, such as the 



2IO THE POLISHING AND PI.ATiNG OF METALS. 

inside of rings, lockets, borders of small spoons, etc. Pow- 
dered glass, made by heating scrap glass to a red heat and 
dropping it one piece at a time into very cold water, and then 
running through a sieve, gives brighter effects than sand or 
emery and is largely used on soft metals, such as gold and 
silver. 

There are many kinds of wheels used for satin finishing or 
matting, all being more or less useful on the different classes 
of work. The swing brush is made of wire tassels of the 
proper size of wire tightly bound together by wire, and each 
tassel is secured to the wooden hub by means of screw eyes. 
These wheels have been in use many years on jewelry, silver- 
ware and Britannia. While new, and if run at the proper 
rate of speed, they give very good results, but the wires soon 
become bent out of shape, after which good uniform work 
is hard to obtain. 

The regulation steel scratch brush is very useful in satin 
finishing and by using a brush of fine wire a very delicate 
matted effect is obtained upon either gold or silver. These 
wheels must not be run too fast, as in that case they are apt 
to scratch and not mat. In using the steel scratch brush 
wheels for matting, the front or flat edge of the wheel must 
never be used. The best finish is obtained from using 
the corner or edge of the wheel, with a very light pressure. 
When these steel wheels become greasy or dusty they should 
be washed out in hot potash, as the dirty steel wire leaves a 
greasy scum upon the work which is hard to remove. Any 
wire wheels, either brass or steel, should be cleaned in this 
way whenever necessary. The best matting or satin finish 
wheels in use to-day are those which have the wires loose 
so that they will spring or turn on the hub when striking the 
work. There are several ways of accomplishing this, the 
means varying with the several manufacturers. If the wires 
have sufficient play in the hub, this wheel gives an even and 
verv lustrous surface to almost any metal, which makes a 
bright and pretty effect after being plated. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 211 

Fourteen Karat Gold Plating. — There are several for- 
mulae for fourteen karat solutions. The character of 
the work and the methods of handling will decide 
which is the most suitable solution for any particular class 
of work. Articles which are to be plated and afterwards 
burnished, such as watch cases and jewelry or any article 
which is to be given a heavy and durable plate, are handled 
in a solution composed as follows : 

Water I ga I. 

Cyanide 10 oz. 

Chloride of Gold 10 dwt. 

Carbonate of Copper, sufficient to obtain the desired shade. 

Dissolve the cyanide in the water ; then add the chloride 
of gold, which has been previously prepared as described 
under the head of gilding. Now dissolve one-half ounce of 
carbonate of copper in cyanide, adding the clear copper solu- 
tion to the gold solution very gradually, while the latter is 
plating on actual work. The solution should be heated to 
the proper temperature for work, while the copper solution 
should be of the same temperature, so that all the conditions 
may be as nearly right as possible. 140 F. is about the 
proper temperature. While the copper is being added, the 
work should be gently agitated and removed from the bath 
from time to time and scratch brushed to ascertain the exact 
shade of the deposit. Care must be observed not to add too 
much copper, for if the solution plates too red it will require 
the addition of more gold chloride to bring it back to the 
desired color. It is always best to stop adding the copper 
just before reaching the desired shade — that is when the 
solution is plating a shade or two lighter than that really 
wanted — because when the solution becomes thoroughly 
mixed and has been used for a short time it is very liable to 
plate a little darker than when it is first made. 

A fourteen karat anode should be used with 'this solution 
made of fine gold alloyed with oreide. This is an alloy com- 
posed of copper, 80 parts; zinc, 83 parts; nickel, 6 parts; 



212 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

with a trace of iron and tin, and is much used by jewelry 
manufacturers. The object in using oreide in the anode is 
that it does not tarnish and therefore gives better results 
in plating than would an alloy of either copper or silver. 
The latter should always be avoided in karat solutions, as 
they tend to give an inferior color and a deposit that will 
readily tarnish. 

In preparing work for plating in this solution, particular 
attention should be given to the cleaning, as any finger 
marks or grease spots will interfere with the burnishing 
and show through after the article is finished. After clean- 
ing and scratch brushing thoroughly, rinse in clean water 
and hang the work in the bath. Do not let it hang undis- 
turbed, but agitate gently ; after about one minute remove 
the article and scratch brush ; then repeat the operation as 
often as necessary to obtain the required deposit. Usually 
about three immersions is sufficient to obtain an ordinary 
plate ; but if any particular amount of gold is required upon 
an article it may be weighed before going into the bath and 
then weighed from time to time as the operation proceeds 
until the desired weight is obtained. The burnishing of this 
class of work adds greatly to its appearance and utility, 
hardening the deposit and closing the pores of the metal, 
thus doubling the time which the deposit will wear. 

The foregoing solution is used mostly where heavy de- 
posits and burnished finishes are required, something calcu- 
lated to wear and give satisfaction. It is not in general use, 
except upon the better classes of gold plating. The follow- 
ing formula is in very general use where large quantities 
of work, beauty of color and finish are required, usually at 
the expense of the wearing qualities of the deposit. It is 
highly recommended for cheap case plating and other like 
work, where appearance is the main point to be obtained. 
At: the same time a very good and lasting deposit may be 
obtained from the same solution, if manipulated as previous- 
ly described for heavy plating. This being a bright solution, 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 2 I 3 

burnishing is not necessary to obtain a high polish, but it 
should never be omitted where the plate is guaranteed to 
wear for a certain length of time. To prepare the solution 
for bright plating, take ten pennyweights of fine gold and 
reduce to chloride as described for gilding. Add this to 
one gallon of distilled or clean rain water, adding C. P. 
cyanide of potash gradually, with stirring, until the solu- 
tion becomes colorless. Then cease adding the cyanide and 
add one and one-half ounces of carbonate of soda. Now 
put ten pennyweights of carbonate of copper (or cyanide of 
copper will do) in a dish or bottle with a little water and a 
tablespoonful of ammonia ; add cyanide slowly to the bot- 
tle and shake until the copper carbonate is dissolved and the 
solution becomes of a straw color. Now bring the solution 
to a temperature of 130° F. Hang in the anode, which 
should be of fourteen karat gold, using oreide for alloying 
the fine gold and nothing else, this being non-tarnishable : 

Fine gold 10 parts. 

Oreide 8 parts. 

Will give a fourteen-karat anode. 

Stir up the solution well and proceed to plate, using a 
fairly strong current. Now add the copper solution from 
the bottle slowly, with stirring, while the work is suspended 
in the solution, watching closeiy until the desired shade is 
obtained upon the article being plated. Work to be plated 
in this solution is not to be scratch brushed before plating, 
but should be very highly polished and buffed clean, remov- 
ing all rouge or grease with the buff, if possible. Now the 
work is wired and potashed, rinsed up and down in the hot 
lye and brushed with a soft brush if necessary; then rinsed 
in clean water; then in a clean, weak, cyanide dip, just 
strong enough to remove the tarnish from the article; then 
rinse again in water and hang into the plating hath at once. 

The plating in this solution is usually done with one ap- 
plication. The work upon removal from the solution is 
rinsed in hot water and dried in boxwood sawdust, or with 



214 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

soft muslin cloths. It is then finished upon the soft buff 
with soft or powdered rouge mixed with alcohol and water 
to a thin paste. Gold rouge should always be used for this 
class of work. If done by an experienced hand, a very 
beautiful finish and high polish may be obtained with the 
buff, while but slightly affecting the thickness of the deposit. 

The solution is used extensively upon cheap watch cases 
and where handled in large quantities by an expert they 
may be plated and finished at a profit at from thirty to fifty 
cents each. Of course at this price the wearing quality of 
the article is not considered, only the present appearance. 

Another bright plating solution which is in general use 
upon watch cases and other similar work requiring a cheap, 
bright and non-tarnishable deposit is composed as follows : 

Fine gold i oz. 

Oreide 10 dwt. 

Nickel 4 dwt. 

Melt and roll into a fourteen karat anode. After rolling 
to the proper size and thickness it should be annealed, so 
that it will dissolve more readily. 

Take one gallon of distilled or rain water, into which a 
small porous cup has been placed ; half fill the cup with 
the cyanide and water ; then set it upright into a jar con- 
taining the remainder of the cyanide solution. Attach a 
piece of platinum to the work rod or wire from the dynamo 
and suspend it into the porous cup ; hang the gold anode 
into the outer jar and turn on a strong current. If no 
platinum is at hand, an arc light carbon, a nail, or small 
piece of clean steel will answer. The gold will be dissolved 
from the anode, and not being able to pass through the 
porous cup, will remain suspended in the cyanide solution. 
A solution may be made ready for use in about half an hour 
or longer, according to the amount of current used and the 
amount of gold required to run the solution. From five to 
six pennyweights of gold to the gallon is usually sufficient. 
To determine the amount of °:old in the solution the anode 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 215 

should be weighed from time to time. When the required 
amount of gold has been drawn into the solution, the liquid 
in the porous cup is added to that in the jar and the solu- 
tion heated to about 130 F., when it will be ready for use. 

In using this solution the handling and preparation of the 
work before and after plating is the same as given in the 
previous formula. 

This solution gives a hard, bright deposit, taking a high 
polish easily and being non-tarnishablc. 

The porous cup scheme may be used in making fine gold 
solutions for gilding, especially in cases of emergency, where 
there is no time to prepare the solution in the ordinary way. 
The great drawback to making a gilding solution by the 
use of the current and the porous cup is the fact that near- 
ly all so called fine gold has more or less alloy, usually silver 
and copper, which becomes a part of the solution when made 
in this way, thereby causing the solution to give inferior 
color when finished and tarnishing easily afterwards. Care 
must be taken in making a solution in this manner not to 
get too much cyanide into the solution or the deposit will be 
off color, or perhaps there will be no deposit whatever, if 
the cyanide is greatly in excess ; so it is best to have too little 
rather than too much. 

This form of gilding solution is not in very general use. 
unless the gold being used is known to be perfectly fine.. 
as it is absolutely necessary to eliminate all alloys or foreign 
metals in order to get the best results in coloring or gilding. 
Platinum is very often used in connection with or in place 
of fine gold, or karat gold, anodes for plating. Some platers 
claim to be able to do- beHer and cheaper work with the 
platinum anode; but this cannot be, as the current has no 
effect upon the platinum, it not being dissolved when plat- 
ing or gilding, as is the gold anode; consequently the solu- 
tion is being robbed of its metal, while with the gold anode 
it is fed from the anode as the gold is deposited on the work 
from the solution. 



2l6 THK POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

Platinum anodes are very useful for several reasons. For 
instance, when an extra large surface is to be gilded and the 
gold anode does not present surface enough for the proper 
distribution of the current, the platinum anode comes into 
play in the absence of sufficient gold with which to make 
additional anodes. Then, in using old solutions that it is 
desired to get the gold out of, the platinum anode may be 
used, and as nothing is put into the solution from the anode 
while plating, the gold will soon be entirely removed from 
the solution. Electric light carbons may be used as anodes 
in the same way and for the same purposes. They are much 
cheaper and equally effective, although a larger surface must 
be immersed. 

Where convenient, platinum wire should be used upon 
all gold anodes to form the connection between the anode 
and the electric wire or rod. This prevents getting foreign 
metals into the solution, as is always the case when using 
copper or other wire. 

For gilding the inside of hollow articles, such as sugar 
bowls, creamers, spoon holders, cups, mugs, etc., any of the 
fine gold or gilding solutions may be used and sometimes the 
karat solutions are used. The best way to do this is to have 
a flat copper plate with a copper wire attached (soldered) 
long enough so that the plate may rest on the bench while 
it is connected to the work rod by the wire. Attach this 
wire to the work rod. Now set the article to be gilded in- 
side upon this plate, the work having first been thoroughly 
cleaned and rinsed fill the dish to be gilded even full of gold 
solution, using a cup or other handy vessel which should 
be earthen or glass and never be of metal. Have the anode 
ready and place it in the center of the solution in the dish 
being gilded ; immerse as much of the anode as possible, if 
the surface to be colored be large. The anode should not 
be held in one position, but should be moved about, getting 
as near as possible to the most remote parts or corners of 
the dish to be gilded without touching them. If this is not 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 2 1 7 

done the parts farthest from the anode will be of a lighter 
shade than those parts more nearly exposed to the anode. 
Care must be taken not to allow the anode to touch either the 
bottom or sides of the article being gilded, for if it does 
it will cause a nick or hole to be burned in the metal and 
perhaps spoil the job. Considerable current should be used 
when gilding inside work, especially on large pieces, and 
as much speed as is consistent with doing the work prop- 
erly. The reason for haste is that when the current is not 
on the work, either before or after the gilding, the cyanide 
of the solution will readily attack the plating, which not only 
has a bad effect upon the plate, but upon the solution also. 
From one to two minutes is generally long enough for the 
first gilding. The solution should be at once emptied into 
the solution jar, the article rinsed and scratch brushed, 
rinsed again and then given another, but lighter or quicker, 
gilding, as previously described. This second gilding is not 
to be scratch brushed, but rinsed and dried. 

A very good, bright gilding solution, which does not re- 
quire heating, but is used cold, is made as follows: Dis- 
solve six ounces of C. P. cyanide of potash in one gallon of 
distilled water. Then run into this six pennyweights of fine 
gold from the anode, through the porous cup, as previously 
described. Add two ounces of carbonate of soda. Boil the 
mixture for a few minutes and allow to cool. It is then 
ready for use. 

The work must be perfectly clean when it goes into the 
solution in order to avoid the necessity for scratch brush- 
ing, as it is supposed to be finished after a single immersion 
in this solution, unless some parts may require burnishing. 
Work this solution with a weak current and keep the solu- 
tion covered when not in use to prevent it from becoming: 
dirty. 

A very good cold gilding solution which is in use in many 
extensive plating shops where cheap gilding is required upon 



2lS THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF .METALS. 

picture frames, trimmings and novelties of the different 
kinds, is made as follows : 

Distilled water I gal. 

Chloride of gold 6 dwt. 

Potassium ferrocyanide 2 oz. 

Carbonate soda 1V2 oz. 

When the solution is prepared, boil thoroughly, filter and 
allow to cool, when it will be ready for use. Use a fine gold 
anode. A platinum anode may be used by frequently add- 
ing chloride of gold to the solution, according to the amount 
of work being plated. 

The following is a formula given me by a plater who was 
formerly an employe in the plating department of the Elk- 
ington Co., Birmingham, England. I have never had occa- 
sion to use it but am informed that it is very desirable for 
turning out large quantities of good work cheaply. 

Reduce one ounce of fine gold to chloride. Add this to 
four gallons of water, acid and all, just as it comes from the 
evaporating dish. Then add four pounds of bichromate of 
potash ; if the mixture appears green, add more potash ; 
bring to the boiling point and then add two ounces of C. 
P. cyanide of potash, which should turn the solution to a 
light brown color, when it is ready for use. 

Iron, steel, lead or soft soldered articles should receive 
a coating of copper before being gilded, as fine gold does 
not adhere well directly upon these metals. The karat solu- 
tions, however, will plate directly upon them. 

To obtain the bright burnished finish seen in cups, gob- 
lets and other hollow ware, the article is usually burnished on 
the lathe after being silver plated. It is then rinsed in pot- 
ash and clean water; then filled with the hot solution, first 
making a connection with the work rod or wire ; then im- 
merse the anode, taking care not to leave it in too long, as 
that would cause the gilding to become clouded. Either the 
fine gold or the karat solution makes a fine gold lining to 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 219 

a dish when it has first been burnished. The articles may 
also be first gilded and burnished afterward, getting- a simi- 
lar result, but burnishing the silver and then gilding is the 
most common way and gives the best results. 

Stot Gilding or Stopping Off. — Articles of silver or 
silver plate having figures, leaves, flowers, etc., requiring 
to be gilded, are cleaned just as for gilding, then dried, and 
then the parts which are to remain silver are painted, using 
black asphaltum paint made by dissolving two parts of as- 
phaltum and one part of beeswax, with benzine, using just 
enough benzine to make a thin paint. Now paint the parts 
which are not to be gilded, using a fine pointed camel's hair 
brush, so that work may be done neatly. Upon the proper 
painting of the article depends the' success of the whole oper- 
ation; for difficult pieces it requires patience and a steady 
hand to insure success. After the article has been painted 
and allowed to dry, it is ready to be gilded in one of the 
cold solutions ; the hot gilding solution may be used, but 
the hot solutions attack the paint, so that the thing being 
gilded must remain only long enough in the hot bath to be- 
come colored ; therefore the cold bath is superior for this 
class of work. When the article has been properly gilded, 
rinse and immerse in turpentine until the paint is removed. 
Then finish in the ordinary way, removing the turpentine 
with hot potash, or strong soap water. Small pieces requir- 
ing to be spot gilded, or re-gilded, such as fancy spoons 
which are engraved (bright cut), may be given a coating 
of lacquer upon the engraving or parts to be protected ; 
dry well and gild quickly, afterwards removing the lacquer 
in hot potash or by rubbing it with alcohol. 

Tn gilding large vessels, such as loving cups, punch 
bowls, etc., which have uneven or perforated edges, making 
it impossible to fill them even full of solution, the 
are built up with gutta percha. First heat the gutta percha 
in boiling water until it becomes soft enough to work with 



220 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

the hands ; now build up the edge evenly around the dish 
with a wall of gutta percha. Then fill with the gold solu- 
tion and gild as previously described for gold lining. An- 
other and more simple way of reaching the same end, where 
the surface is not too great, is to gild the vessel as high up 
as possible by filling it as full as is possible without spilling 
Then empty and rinse. Finish the operation by the use of 
the "doctor." To make a doctor, take a small clean piece of 
sponge around which the end of the gilding anode is 
wrapped ; then connect the vessel being doctored with the 
work rod ; wet the sponge in the gilding solution and apply 
it to the parts left uncolored. If the space to be doctored 
is large the dish should be rinsed from time to time, as the 
cyanide in the solution attacks the plating and if strong will 
remove and discolor the gilding. After all is coated, scratch 
brush the whole surface. 

Still another way to gild the uneven or projecting parts 
of a dish to be lined with gold, is to fill the dish as before 
and as high as may be without running over. Now gild this 
much of the dish ; remove the gold solution from the dish 
and rinse. Then proceed to plate the parts where the gild- 
ing did not reach by immersing that part into the gilding 
solution and plate it as you would any other article. Be 
sure the gilding solution laps well over the part already 
gilded. When one part is gilded take another and so on 
around the dish till all is complete ; then scratch brush the 
whole dish. Remember that after each section of the dish 
is gilded, it must be rinsed in clean water to prevent the 
cyanide from removing the gilding. Of course this will 
necessitate getting gold on the outside of the dish. If the 
gilding is to be done in a cold solution, the outside of the 
dish may be lacquered to prevent the gold from adhering 
when the dish is immersed. If the dish ; s of sterling silver, 
the gold may be removed by polishing off with tripoli and 
finishing in the usual manner. If a plated dish, th^ gold 
on the outside may be covered up with the silver doctor and 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 22! 

finished in the ordinary manner. In gilding sterling dishes 
that arc heavily embossed with figures and flowers, the in- 
sides sometimes have deep recesses which are hard to get at 
with the scratch brush and, being left white from the pickle 
when the dish is made, these places are usually hard to 
cover with gold. To gild such dishes, use a rich solution 
with plenty of anode surface, moving the anode as near to 
the depressions as possible. 

Gilding without the use of a Dynamo or Battery. — 
This may be accomplished by taking the ordinary gilding 
or gold plating solution and heating as usual. Now take 
a piece of copper wire; attach to this the article to be plated 
or gilded; to the other end attach a small piece of sheet 
zinc, bending the wire in the center in a U shape. Now 
immerse both ends, with the zinc attached to one end and 
the article to be plated to the other ; the two ends should 
not be more than one to one and one-half inches apart. The 
article having first been cleaned in the proper way will take 
on a fiim of gold very quickly, which can be finished in the 
ordinary way. 

Silver plating may be accomplished in the same manner, 
but any method of dipping or simple immersion is only a 
makeshift at best, only being employed occasionally in cases 
of emergency. But as a commercial pursuit the practice is 
almost obsolete in this age of electrical advancement. For 
that reason very little space will be given to a practice we 
consider not up-to-date, nor adapted to the requirements of 
the present day. So, in passing, we will give only one or 
two of the simple immersion formulae for both silver and 
gold, for the sake of completeness. Solution for simple 
immersion gilding : 

Chloride of gold 2 drams. 

C. P. cyanide 10 drams. 

Caustic potash 5 drams. 

Phosphate of sodium g drams. 

Water J j gallon. 



222 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

Dissolve the cyanide in half the water ; then add to this 
the chloride of gold. Dissolve the caustic potash and phos- 
phate of sodium in the other half. Mix the two together and 
bring, to the boiling point. This is adapted for brass, cop- 
per or German silver, iron or steel goods, which must first 
be copper plated. Clean the work well and move about in 
the bath on a wire from one to two minute 

Rose Gold. — While the gold plating and gilding in gen- 
eral require perhaps the highest degree of skill on the part 
of the operator, in bringing out the different shades and 
effects and in matching colors in rose gold the operator is 
not only required to use all his skill and ingenuity, but he 
must have taste and an artistic eye in order to produce the 
different effects and to be able to make them harmonize with 
their surroundings. In order to do this properly the oper- 
ator should be a lover of art and a critic of artistic finishes. 
For instance, a base or tray or any other object of antique 
pattern would look absurd if finished in a bright yellow shade 
of rose gold. In that case we would defeat the principal aim 
of the object which is to give the appearance of having 
come by its present finish from age. Therefore the heavier 
and more somber shades would be more suitable and in 
better harmony with the design. On pieces of jewelry and 
bric-a-brac of new and original design the more heavy 
shades of rose gold would be out of place, while the lighter 
and more lustrous shades would be considered the proper 
thing. However, a great deal of this work, especially in 
the jewelry shops and job plating shops, is customers' work 
and of course must be finished to meet the ideas of the party 
paying for the job, no matter whether those ideas are right 
or wrong from an artistic standpoint. 

While there are many shades of rose gold, and platers 
will produce different results upon similar work, yet it is 
a fact that there is probably little if any difference in the 
solutions. The difference lies with the operator and is due 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 223 

to the fact that people's ideas and tastes differ vastly as to 
what is appropriate. Then again some men have consider 
able artistic ability while others have none. 
Rose gold solution is made as follows : 

Chloride of gold 8 dwt. 

Carbonate of copper 10 dwt. 

C. P. cyanide 6 oz. 

Water 1 gal. 

Prepare the solution exactly as described for gilding; 
then add the carbonate of copper slowly, having previously 
dissolved it in a little cyanide of potash and water. When 
adding the copper keep the solution at about 130 to 140 
F. and stir up frequently, trying it often upon the regular 
work, until it begins to run into the proper shade ; then add 
no more copper, as the color will have a tendency to run 
darker as the solution becomes older. A ten karat anode, 
composed of gold and copper, works well with this solution, 
though where there is plenty of gold in the solution, or 
enough to prevent tarnishing, a copper anode is sometimes 
used ; and, by experienced platers, platinum or fine gold 
anodes are used. 

The whole secret in getting the different shades is in the 
proper manipulation of the current, the temperature of solu- 
tion and the handling of the work while in the solution. 
With these details properly understood, and with the assist- 
ance of a good gilding solution, one may produce almost any 
shade in rose gold. 

An old gilding solution that has become run down and 
weak' in metal is frequently made the basis of the rose solu- 
tion by the addition of suitable quantities of copper carbonate. 
Also the tone of the rose solution may be brightened by the 
addition to it of the run-out gilding solution. Some shops 
doing large quantities of work dispose of all their old gold 
solution in this way. If the color of the rose solution be- 
comes too dark, or dead, a little chloride of srold should be 



:24 THE POLISHING AND plating of metals. 

added which will immediately lighten the shade of the 
deposit. 

Preparation of the Work.- — The work to be rose gold 
is prepared for the bath as for gilding, but only the first 
preparation ; after that it is handled entirely different. 

Right here I wish to say that some articles are not adapt- 
ed to the finish; for instance, flat, smooth or plain objects 
without border, chasing, flowers or background, with which 
to give effect to the finish. Yet many times people with 
little or no artistic taste wish such articles to be finished in 
rose gold and perhaps want them to match a sample com- 
posed of figures or flowers giving a desirable ground to 
work upon, while the plain surface they bring to you gives 
you nothing upon which to work. Such jobs are usually 
unsatisfactory to the operator as well as to the customer 
and should not be undertaken until the result is explained 
beforehand. In preparing the work for the rose finish, 
clean and scratch brush as for gilding, then immerse in the 
rose solution, gently agitating all the time, watch closely 
and when the deposit has become even all over and of a 
dark brown shade, remove the work and rinse. One to two 
minutes is usually sufficient and the time is much less if 
the current be as strong as it should be. Now the front 
of the article, or the part requiring the rose finish is rubbed 
over with saleratus (baking soda, bicarbonate of soda) with 
the fingers or palm of the hand, to remove the brown sedi- 
ment from the high lights and give effect to the finish. The 
back or bottom of the article is to be scratch brushed, then 
rinsed and immersed in the gilding solution until the scratch 
brushed parts and parts exposed by rubbing have been given 
the proper color. It may be necessary to remove the article 
from the gilding solution and rub with saleratus more than 
once before getting the desired color. The same is true in 
the rose gold solution ; an article may often have to be given 
more than one application and in case the article being plat- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING <>!• METALS. 



22 5 



ed seems to have bad spots which fail to take on the proper 
color, the whole thing- should be thoroughly scratch brushed 
and the operation repeated. Grease, dirt or finger marks 
may cause the work to come from the rose bath in a spotted 
condition. After the desired color has been obtained by the 
combined use of the rose gold and gilding solutions the 
work is dried in saw dust, which is the end of the operation 
unless it is deemed advisable to burnish the high lights, or to 
lacquer the work. 

In lacquering rose gold, the work should be done with a 
brush and not dipped. Put on the lacquer sparingly, as 
when applied thickly it gives the work a painted or var- 
nished effect. A very gentle heat should be used in drying 
the lacquer, otherwise the work may be discolored or faded 
by the heat. 

Green or Antique Rose Gold. — This effect is accom- 
plished by first getting a nice color and finish in the rose gold 
and gilding solutions and finishing in the green gold, which 
is made by adding small quantities of cyanide of silver so- 
lution to some of the gold solution. Have the solution 
warm, not hot. Use a small platinum anode for the best 
results. 

Perhaps the best colors and softest effects in rose gold 
are those obtained by first silver plating the article to be 
rose finished, afterwards gilding in the fine gold solution. 

Take the object to be rose gold and clean in the ordinary 
way; plate slowly in a good silver solution until it begins 
to turn from pearly white to dead white; then remove, rinse, 
rub off the highlights with saleratus ; rinse again and gild. 
The parts rubbed off will take en a bright gilding while the 
dead white of the silver deposit gives an excellent rose gold 
effect, after being gilded. To still further increase the con- 
trast and beauty of this operation, the highlights of the sil- 
vered article may be burnished before gilding, which will 
give it a burnished effect after being finished. 



226 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

Usually one immersion in the gilding solution is sufficient 
to bring out the proper color ; if not it may be removed 
from the bath and rubbed with saleratus, scratch brushed 
where necessary and returned to the gilding bath. This is 
one of the quickest and most economical methods of doing 
rose gold. It also gives the most pleasing results. 

A very cheap imitation of rose gold is accomplished by 
giving the work a dip in the gilding solution, getting the 
proper shade, and afterwards rubbing in the chased work or 
background yellow and red water-color paints mixed in 
proper proportions to get the desired color, then, after the 
paint is nearly dry, wipe the surplus paint from the high 
parts with a damp cloth. The colors used are "deep chrome 
yellow" and "orange chrome yellow." They may be pur- 
chased at any artists' supply store. This work should be 
lacquered. 

Green Gilding. — This is accomplished by first gilding 
the article in the Roman or fine gold solution ; then take a 
small quantity of the gilding solution and add to it a little 
silver solution, not more than a spoonful at a time, until the 
desired shade of green is obtained. Do not have the green 
solution hot ; better results will be obtained when only 
warm. Use a weak current and a small platinum anode, if 
convenient. 



CHAPTER IX. 

SILVER PLATING. 

Silver plating is one of the most useful branches of the 
plating industry and perhaps the oldest process of practical 
commercial value. Considerable supplementary knowledge 
is required in silver plating on the different classes of work, 
such as table cutlery, Britannia ware, German silver or brass 
goods. When one has the necessary knowledge for handling 
these classes of work in detail, there is a certain enjoyment 
or fascination about it which makes the. plater take much 
pride in his operations and justly so. But to have this 
serene, confident feeling one must be thoroughly master 
of the situation and understand both his solutions and the 
nature of the class of work which he is handling in its prep- 
aration for the bath. If the operator will become thorough- 
ly conversant with these details, the rest will be compara- 
tively easy. 

Silver Plating on Steel. — This is one of the most 
difficult operations in the whole line of electroplating. The 
plating itself is easy enough. But to get the silver plate so 
that it will adhere to the steel when it is receiving the finish- 
ing polish under the steel burnisher is a different thing. 
This applies to all steel goods requiring silver plating and 
burnishing, but in particular to flat ware, steel knives and 
forks, etc., except the cheaper ones which will be treated 
later. This class of goods are all plated directly upon the 
steel and hand burnished. The burnishing gives the high 
polish required, closes up the pores in the plate and makes 
the silver very hard, thus increasing the life and usefulness 
of the article. 

227 



228 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

Knives and other steel goods to be silver plated, especial- 
ly when new, should be washed in benzine to remove all 
grease and oil, then placed in an earthen dipping basket arid 
put into a clean strong potash (crude potash is preferable) 
boiling hot for thirty minutes to one hour. Then remove 
to the scouring bench. Do not rinse, but let the hot potash 
dry upon the knives which will prevent rusting. Remove 
two or three at a time, as you wish to scour them. Scour, 
very thoroughly with a revolving bristle brush, or hand 
brush, or both, using plenty of wet powdered pumice stone 
and a little cyanide of potash solution on your brush to 
facilitate the cleaning. When clean, rinse in cold running 
water; then place in a clean crock of water into which 
one pound of washing soda has been dissolved. Allow the 
knives to remain in this soda solution until all are cleaned 
and ready for the plating solution ; this will prevent their 
rusting while the others are being cleaned. Where any 
large quantities are to be plated frames should be provided 
for holding the knives. Each frame should be made to hold 
six knives and should be in a circular shape, with a long 
copper wire soldered or riveted in the center, with a hook 
at its upper end to hook over the cathode or work rod. 
The holes in the frame should be large enough for the knife 
or fork to be dropped in, handle down, and to catch in the 
frame around the bolster. The knives in the frame, when 
being plated, should be moved from time to time so that all 
parts will be plated, especially where the bolster rests upon 
the frame ; this may be done without taking them from the 
solution, by removing the frame from the rod and giving a 
quick jolt or jerk, while under the solution, which will 
change the position of the work which rests on the frame. 
Where there is not enough work to warrant using the frames 
and copper slinging wire is used the position of the wire 
should be changed upon the work once or twice while being 
plated ; if not, it will leave a ring or mark around the 
bolster that will not be plated, or very lightly, to say the 



THE POLISHING AM)' PLATING OF METALS. 229 

least, and is very liable to cause failing when it comes to be 
burnished. 

The work being all thoroughly scoured it should now be 
removed from the soda,, placed in the frames or wired 
quickly (only removing what can be handled with dispatch 
at one time), rinsed in clean cold water, dipped into an 
acid dip composed of one pint of muriatic acid to each gal- 
lon of water, rinsed again, and if water flows freely and 
evenly all over the work, hang it in the strike solution at 
once. If the water breaks away and withdraws from any 
one spot, it is a sure sign of dirt or grease, and it will be 
useless to proceed with the unclean article, as it must be 
cleaned again to prevent failing. 

The work should be left in the strike solution only until 
it becomes whitened, or struck all over. Move the work 
gently while striking. From one to two minutes is usually 
sufficient, depending of course somewhat upon the condi- 
tion of the solution and the amount of the current used. 
After the work is struck up, it is hung in the silver-plating 
bath immediately, without any rinsing. 

The current must be reduced to the lowest possible point 
on the silver solution when beginning to load up the vat so 
that the first part of the batch of work will not burn while 
the remainder is being struck up. If the current cannot be 
sufficiently reduced to prevent burning some of the anodes 
may be hung upon the center rod while filling the tank and 
then put back into their proper places as the vat fills up. 

The best quality of silver-plated flat ware is usually run 
from one and one-half to two hours in the solution, for 
twelve pennyweight goods. This standard meaning that 
they are supposed to have twelve pennyweights of silver to 
every dozen of knives. Some few firms making this class 
of goods live up to this rule, bul a great main- fall Ear short, 
giving their plater instructions to put on ten or perhaps 
only eight pennyweights to the dozen, yet the goods are 
stamped "12 dwt." 



23O THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS, 

The standard by which the large plating factories in the 
East are governed is about as follows as to the amount of 
silver deposited. 

Per Gross. Double. Triple. Quadruple. 

Table spoons 96 dwt Soz 12 oz. 

Dessert spoons 72 dwt 6 oz 9 oz. 

Tea spoons 4 dwt 4 oz 6 oz. 

Knives and forks 72 dwt 6 oz 9 oz. 

The proper way to determine the amount of silver to be 
deposited upon the goods is to weigh them just before 
putting them into the silver bath and then weigh again upon 
their removal after plating. For example, in plating steel 
knives that require ten pennyweights to the dozen, weigh a 
dozen or half dozen before plating; then when in the solu- 
tion about one hour weigh again ; then repeat at intervals 
until you have the required amount deposited. It will not 
be necessary to do this often, as you now know the amount 
of silver deposited in a given time, with a certain amount 
of current, provided the solution is not allowed to become 
deficient in metal and the anode surface must not be greatly 
reduced to get the same results. 

Some large factories in the East have the cathode rod 
of the silver-plating vats attached to a weighing scale, 
which when the desired amount of silver is deposited gently 
raises the rod, work and all, from the plating bath, thus 
assuring an even and uniform weight on all goods handled. 

Great' care must be taken to prevent this class of work 
from burning, as this makes the blades rough, hard to 
burnish and very often causes the work to peel. 

There are several schemes for gently moving the work 
to and fro, which prevents burning and causes the goods to 
take on a uniform and fine-grained deposit. This move- 
ment may be accomplished by attaching a long rod at one 
end to the cathode or work rod of the silver solution, the 
other end being attached by a crank pin to the side of a 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 231 

slowly revolving pulley arranged for the purpose. This ap- 
paratus is used extensively in flat ware shops, but not on 
Britannia or other similar goods. Flat ware, when removed 
from the solution, should be immediately dipped in very hot 
water and then swung in the air until dry. Then they are 
ready for scratch brushing or sanding. The latter is to be 
recommended, using white sea sand (wet) and rubbing each 
piece all over lengthwise until the white cast disappears. 
Then the sand should be thoroughly washed off and the 
work dried. It is then ready for the burnisher. Sand has 
several advantages over the scratch brush, where it is 
practical to use it. as it is on flat ware; first, it does. not 
remove any of the plate and will leave the work clean and 
white, while the brush very often leaves it greasy and dull. 

The careful and economical plater will always provide a 
rinsing tub, as close as possible to the silver bath. This 
should be filled with clean water and all work, upon being 
removed from the silver solution, should be rinsed in this 
tub, so as to wash off and save the solution adhering to the 
sroods. This rinse water may be used to fill up the silver 
solution when necessary. 

Silver plating baths may be made by using different 
quantities of silver, as little as one-half ounce to the gallon 
making: a solution that will do fair work, but such solutions 
are not recommended, for if there is not sufficient silver in 
the solution it must come from the anode which is robbing 
Peter to pay Paul. The best silver solutions have three and 
even four ounces of silver to the gallon. 

Some platers use a silver solution with the highest pos- 
sible amount of silver per gallon which can be taken up and 
held in solution by cyanide of potash, making a very rich, 
expensive and extravagant solution from which the results 
obtained can be no better than from the standard solutions 
of about three ounces per gallon. Therefore it seems a need- 
less expense to have several ounces of silver per gallon in 
a solution more than is absolutely necessary, as in a large so- 



232 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

lution of several hundred gallons it runs into money very 
fast. 

A good standard solution consists of : 

Chloride of silver 2^ oz. 

C. P. cyanide of potash fi oz. 

Water 1 gal. 

To prepare a silver bath, take the number of ounces of 
metallic silver you wish to put into your solution. It 
should be rolled or hammered thin, and heated to a red heat 
to soften it, and then cut into small bits or strips, so that 
it may be readily attacked by the acid. 

In buying metallic silver to make new solutions it is best 
to buy granulated silver which comes in the form of small 
nuggets and is usually very pure. On account of the irregu- 
lar form the acid attacks it readily and it is quickly reduced 
to nitrate, thus doing away with the necessity of rolling and 
cutting up as in the case of sheet silver. Then take a large 
necked bottle, or a jar, putting in it about six parts nitric 
acid to one part of water; set this bottle or jar containing 
the acid and water into a jar or tub of hot water; when the 
acid begins to get warm add the scraps of silver. If the 
acid is in a small vessel add the metal slowly, to prevent the 
acid from boiling over, as it attacks the silver. One pint of 
C. P. nitric acid and one-sixth pint of water will reduce 
about twenty ounces of silver. This cutting down of the 
silver should be done out of doors, or where there is good 
ventilation, as the acid fumes are very injurious to health 
if inhaled. This work should never be done in a room 
where there is machinery, tools or polished metal goods, as it 
causes all metal goods to rust or tarnish. 

When the silver has all been reduced by the acid it is then 
nitrate of silver and should be diluted one-half its volume or 
more with water. Then a strong solution of table salt 
(chloride of sodium) must be prepared and added slowly to 
the nitrate solution, stirring with a glass rod. This will pre- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 233 

cipitatc the silver to the bottom of the vessel in a white 
mass, which is chloride of silver. The salt solution should 
be added until the silver is all precipitated; then fill the 
vessel with hot water and allow to settle ; or, if the vessel 
is already full, dump the contents into a larger clean crock, 
fill with clean, hot water, stir up and allow to settle. The 
idea in adding water is to reduce the specific gravity of the 
solution so that the fine silver precipitate will settle quickly. 
If this were not done it might take hours to settle. Pour 
off or syphon off the liquid, as soon as it is perfectly clear 
and fill up the jar with water. Repeat this several times, 
or until the salt cannot be tasted in the wash water when 
touched to the tongue. The last washings should be with 
clean cold water. Never remove the water entirely from 
the chloride, as it is readily attacked by the air and de- 
composed. 

When the chloride has been thoroughly washed, dissolve 
the cyanide of potash in another vessel, pour the water off 
from the chloride of silver and add the solution of cyanide 
of potassium with stirring until the silver chloride is all 
dissolved and taken up by the cyanide. Then add a little 
excess of cyanide and the solution will be ready for work. 
Perfectly clean soft or distilled water should be used in 
making all solutions ; distilled water is preferable where 
available, as the silver salts are very readily thrown down in 
metallic powder by impurities in the water. Silver solu- 
tions, unlike nickel, become better with age, provided they 
are kept clean and their strength in silver and proportions 
of cyanide of potash maintained. 

Steel Strike Solution. — Some platers who plate flat 
ware exclusively, or extensively, use a special or steel strike, 
the difference from the regular silver strike being that the 
steel strike is much stronger in cyanide and weaker in silver 
than the silver strike. A carbon anode is used with it. ! 
solution should stand from 20 B. to 24 B.. and is com- 
posed as follows : 



234 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

C. P. cyanide of potash 2 lbs. 

Distilled water i gal. 

Silver solution ^ pt. 

Of course it all depends upon the quality and strength 
of the cyanide as to just how much will be required to bring 
the hydrometer up to the desired figure. 

The steel strike is only used as a preliminary, the work, 
when the two strikes are used, being immediately immersed 
in the second or regular silver strike. The steel strike is not 
generally considered a necessity but as a convenience assur- 
ing a greater degree of success on steel work. It is used in 
the belief that it helps to prevent failing. This is, however, 
another question. 

The regular strike, or whitening solution for steel work, 
is composed mostly of cyanide of potash and water (about 
two pounds of C. P. cyanide to each gallon of water) with 
the addition of about two quarts of silver solution to each 
five gallons of striking solution. It will be seen that very 
little silver is used in striking steel ; if more were used, it 
would cause the work to fail or peel. The strike for steel 
should stand about 18 to 20 B. For an anode, if there is 
very little silver in the strike, two small silver anodes may 
be used, wired so as to conduct the current freely ; but the 
best and surest results are obtained by using two small 
oieces of steel or carbon as anodes. In this way you plate 
directly from the solution, which will become exhausted in 
time. When used continually a little silver solution should 
be added once or twice a week. When using the steel for 
anodes, a small piece of silver may be wired with the steel 
and used as an anode. This will replace the silver drawn 
from the solution and the steel anodes may be large enough 
so that they will cause quicker and more powerful action, as 
speed is required in striking steel work. A considerable 
amount of current is advisable in striking, as this will cause 
the silver film deposited on the work while it is in the strike 



THE POLISHING AM) PLATING OF METALS. 235 

to adhere to the steel more readily, which is the prime object 
in striking. 

In order to prevent the work from burning when striking 
it should be moved gently, with the hand, back and forth on 
the cathode rod and the work should only be allowed to re- 
main in the strike long enough to become covered all over 
with a yellowish or whitish film of silver. From one to two 
minutes is long enough. It should then be hung directly in 
the silver plating bath without rinsing. 

Both the silver solution and the strike must have separate 
and independent switchboards so that the current may be 
controlled at will, according to the amount of work at hand. 
Silver solution suitable for flat ware is composed as follows : 

Chloride of silver 3 oz. 

C. P. cyanide of potash 1 lb. 

Rain water 1 gal. 

All silver solutions should have a small excess of free 
cyanide to keep the anodes clean and bright (see free 
cyanide). 

Cheap Flat Work. — There are several ways of handling 
cheap work, either when new or old. Many small dealers 
and job shops buy the steel blanks from a manufacturer and 
plate them. They are furnished already ground, polished 
and wrapped up one dozen in a package and are all ready 
for plating. Then there are "seconds," which may be had 
still cheaper, on account of the metal having some little flaw 
which would not make a perfect knife, yet for the cheaper 
goods it does very well. These goods may be bought with 
any name or stamp upon them which the purchaser may 
desire, provided they are taken in sufficiently large quanti- 
ties. This class of goods is generally put out to sell, not to 
wear. It is generally sold cheaply, consequently there can 
be very little silver upon them, the object being to get as 
little silver on as possible, yet to get it on in such a way that 



236 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

it will take a high finish, appear to good advantage and look 
like the real "12 dwt." hand burnished goods. 

The' most approved way for handling this work is as 
follows : Prepare the work for the nickel solution. Give a 
light and even nickel plate all over, being careful that no 
wire marks remain unplated. Run about ten minutes in the 
nickel ; then rinse off and hang in the duplex, or acid, copper 
solution, running in this about fifteen minutes to one-half 
an hour. When plated sufficiently, remove, dry thoroughly 
and buff, finishing in the best possible manner, for on this 
operation depends largely the appearance of the finished 
article. After being buffed clean (no rouge or grease 
should be left upon them), they are ready for nickeling 
again. If the goods come clean from the buff they may be 
wired and potashed in strong hot potash for two or three 
minutes or until they change color slightly, then rinsed 
in cold water, dipped in a cyanide of potash dip, rinsed again 
and hung in the bright nickel solution (see bright nickel) 
for about ten minutes with a very moderate current. This 
will give a very bright and hard surface upon which to 
deposit the silver, so that little polishing will be required 
when the article comes from the silver solution and conse- 
quently little silver is required, which is the main object in 
handling the work in this way. If the coppered goods are 
.greasy and do not appear clean, of course, they will have to 
be brushed with a soft brush and potash to remove all 
grease and dirt before putting into the nickel bath. 

When removed from the nickel the goods should be thor- 
oughly rinsed in cold running water, then struck up in the 
silver strike (without any other preparatory dip) and then 
hung in the silver solution from fifteen to twenty minutes 
with a slow current. When removed and dried, they should 
have a bluish, pearly white cast and should buff up readily 
with soft rouge and alcohol, or soft rouge and kerosene. 

The silver solution for this kind of work may be bright- 
ened, it only bright plating is to be done in it, but if heavy 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 237 

deposits are also required from the same solution it should 
not be brightened. Bright solutions will be described far- 
ther on. 

Another way to handle this work is to first copper plate 
it in the cyanide of copper solution, getting a deposit which 
is sufficient to stand buffing and then plate the silver upon 
the copper, not using the nickel. In this way it requires 
more silver to stand the finishing buff and it is not as satis- 
factory as the previously described method, as silver on 
copper is not capable of taking so high a polish as silver on 
bright nickel and does not do it so readily. This class of 
work should never be allowed to lie around wet or damp, as 
it rusts very quickly, even after plating. It should be thor- 
oughly dried when taken from the silver bath. 

The cheapest method of handling steel knives to be silver 
plated, is to have them fairly bright when coming from the 
polisher, give them about ten minutes plate in a bright nickel 
solution with a very moderate current, so as not to burn 
the edges, then remove, rinse in clean cold water, strike up 
in the silver strike and run in the silver solution for about 
fifteen minutes with a low current. Then they should be 
removed and dried in very hot water and are ready for 
buffing. 

Britannia or White Metal. — Britannia, or white metal, 
as it is commonly called, is much more easily handled than 
steel work. If the proper dips are used and due care taken 
in cleaning the work, there should be very little trouble from 
failed work. In the silverware factories, or shops where 
considerable of this work is handled, the plating room is 
fitted up especially for it. 

Where it. is handled in great amounts, either new or old 
work to be replated, there should be two potash dips. The 
first one is for potashing the work after polishing and 
before cleaning with powdered pumice stone: the other is 
usually made from caustic soda. Tts use will be explained 



238 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

farther on. The potash used for Britannia should not be 
used for other metals, on account of the lead contained in 
the Britannia ; the potash becomes saturated with this lead 
and it is readily deposited upon other metals if they are 
placed in the potash and is sometimes very troublesome to 
remove, destroying the finish on the goods and requiring 
them to be repolished. 

When the Britannia comes from the sand buffer, it is as a 
general rule washed out with strong soap suds or biushed 
out; using a small stick or wire to get greasy sand out of 
rivet holes, etc. Then it is ready for the potash. After 
remaining in the potash for five or ten minutes it is re- 
moved, rinsed, hung in cold water and thoroughly scoured, 
a piece at a time. A small lathe with quite a long spindle 
and taper at the end, running at a slow speed, should be 
located at or very near the scouring vat. Inside or goblet 
bristle brushes are used on this for cleaning and scouring 
the inside of the hollow ware, such as coffee and teapots, 
sugars, creamers, etc. Large circular bristle wheels may 
also be used to good advantage on the outside of the ware. 

The use of the lathe is very general on account of its 
being much quicker than hand work. As a rule, the finish- 
ing touches should be put on with the hand brush while 
making a close inspection of the work. The work should 
then be rinsed and dipped in the quickening dip, sometimes 
called the blue dip, composed as follows: 

Corrosive sublimate 1 lb. 

Sal ammoniac 2 lb. 

Water 6 gal. 

Corrosive sublimate (bichloride of mercury) is ve r y 
slightly soluble in cold water and sparingly soluble in hot 
water. The sal ammoniac (chloride of ammonium) is added 
simply to assist in dissolving the mercuric salt and to hold 
it in solution, as if the bichloride were dissolved to the full- 
est extent in hot water, a large portion of it would fall out 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 239 

of solution again as soon as the water became cold. It is 
better, therefore, to dissolve the sal ammoniac in hot water 
and then, keeping- it hot, add the corrosive sublimate a little 
at a time with stirring until it is all dissolved. Then allow 
the solution to cool and pour off the clear solution into the 
jar which is to be used for the dip. In this way about five 
times as much mercury may be used as if it is made in the 
ordinary method of dissolving the ingredients separately 
in hot water and then stirring together. Care should be 
used not to get any of the sediment of corrosive sublimate 
in the dip, as it will make bad spots on the work. Another 
very good dip for Britannia ware consists of 

Corrosive sublimate 1 lb. 

Muriatic acid 1 pt. 

Water 5 gal. 

Dissolve the corrosive sublimate, add the water, then the 
muriatic acid. After the work has been dipped in the quick- 
ening dip for a moment or two, it will form a bluish film 
over the work. It should then be dipped immediately into 
the second lye or hot caustic sdda dip previously mentioned 
without any rinsing in water. After the hot lye it is given 
a thorough rinsing in cold water and placed in the strike 
for one or two minutes, or just long enough to whiten 
evenly. 

In plating hollow ware the anode rod should have at- 
tached to it a wire of suitable length, upon the other end of 
which is a strip of silver with which to strike or whiten the 
insides of such pieces as require it, such as coffee and tea 
pots, sugar bowls, and the like. While the work is in the 
strike, hold this piece of silver by the wire so that it will 
descend into the inside of the dish for a minute, being sure 
that you have a good clean connection with the anode rod 
before you start. The piece of silver must not be allowed 
to touch the piece of work while hanging in it. When this is 
done the work is ready to go directly into the silver bath. 



24O THE PLATING AND POLISHING OF METALS. 

All the larger hollow pieces, such as ice pitchers, coffee 
pots or urns should have a small anode hung inside the hol- 
low article while plating. This is done by attaching the 
anode to a sufficiently long wire, the other end of which is 
made fast to the anode rod opposite where the hollow piece 
is to hang. Then take a piece of rubber hose two or three 
inches long, slit it up one side, spring it over the work rod 
just over where the hollow piece is which you wish to plate 
inside, then lay the wire with the anode attached over this 
rubber and let it hang down into the inside of the article, 
taking care not to let it touch, as wherever the anode touches 
it will burn the metal and make it rough. 

Britannia ware is usually run from one and one-half to 
two hours where a quadruple plate is required, with proper 
conditions as to solution and current. When removed, it is 
rinsed in the rinsing tub previously described so as to save 
all the drippings from the solution; then it is rinsed again 
in cold and then in hot water and dried, preparatory to 
scratch brushing with the brass wire brush, or sanding, 
which is necessary before burnishing. 

There is a false idea among people who do not know, but 
think they do, as to just what "single," "double," "triple" 
or "quadruple" plate means. The writer has had people 
who should know better insist that triple, or quadruple, plate 
means three or four separate plates; that the goods were 
p'ated once; then finished; then plated again and so on until 
the required number of plates were deposited. As a matter 
of fact, the goods are only plated once but the amount of 
silver is regulated by the time which the goods are left in 
the solution, condition of solution, amount of anode, surface 
and amount of current being used, all being factors which 
must be taken into consideration. A single plate usually 
requires about one-half hour under favorable conditions; 
double plate one hour, triple plate one and one-half hours ; 
quadruple plate two hours. Of course, with a rich solution, 
plenty of anode surface and good steady current of proper 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 24I 

force this time for the different plates may be reduced some- 
what. 

Silver anodes should be hung on iron wire or strips of 
Britannia metal, which will prevent them from falling into 
the solution. 

Brass and German Silver. — These goods are handled 
much in the same way for silver plating as the Britannia 
except that they require even more care in preparing for the 
silver bath, especially German silver, which is a hard metal 
to make the plate adhere to firmly enough to withstand the 
pressure of the burnisher. A good dip for quickening brass 
or German silver goods before plating is made by putting an 
ounce of metallic mercury into a bottle and adding just 
enough nitric acid to dissolve the mercury. Every particle 
of the mercury must be dissolved, otherwise it will adhere to 
the work, if it comes in contact with it and prevent that 
particular part from plating. When thoroughly dissolved, 
you have nitrate of mercury. To this add two gallons of 
water and one pound of C. P. cyanide of potash and stir 
well. It is then ready for use. 

Where brass or German silver goods are plated in con- 
nection with Britannia the quickening dip given for Britan- 
nia will answer very well for either brass or German silver, 
but the nitrate of mercury dip just given will not answer for 
quickening Britannia goods. 

Handling Cheap Novelties. — There is a large class of 
work which merely requires the silver finish or color, with- 
out having any particular amount of silver deposited. This 
class includes cheap, brass novelty goods, which are lac- 
quered after finishing, linings and reflectors for carriage 
lamps, coffin hardware and other similar goods. This class 
of work should be highly finished on the buff, leaving no 
traces of the rouge or buffing compound or finger marks 
upon the work. It is then wired and potashed in strong pot- 



242 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

ash for a few moments ; then rinsed and run through the 
cyanide dip ; rinsed again and placed in a bright nickel solu- 
tion with moderate current for ten to fifteen minutes. (See 
Bright Nickel.) The work is then removed from the bright 
nickel, rinsed in clean cold running water thoroughly, and 
then struck up in the silver strike immediately, without any 
other preparation than the thorough rinsing. Care must be 
taken not to leave these goods in the strike too long and not 
to have the current strong enough to burn the corners or 
projecting parts of the work; but enough current must be 
used to strike the work quickly, otherwise the silver may 
not stick well. After the work is struck up, place it imme- 
diately into the bright silver solution for from ten to twenty 
minutes. 

Bright Silver Solution. — To make a bright solution, 
take from six to eight drops of bisulphide of carbon, place 
it into a quart bottle and fill the bottle nearly full of silver 
solution from your silver bath. Cork the bottle tightly and 
shake it vigorously several times during the day, or until 
all the carbon seems to be dissolved. Let it settle over night 
and then add about one tablespoonful of this mixture to each 
ten gallons of silver solution in the tank. Do the same thing 
with the strike solution. The carbon may also be dissolved 
by using alcohol, instead of solution, but in any case it must 
be all dissolved before using. This will brighten any silver 
solution. It also greatly reduces the amount of silver de- 
posited in a given time, so that it is not advisable to brighten 
any silver solution by this process where heavy deposits are 
required from the same solution. This is recommended 
only for bright plating exclusively. 

In using bisulphide of carbon for bright silver solution, it 
is absolutely necessary that the bisulphide of carbon should 
be thoroughly cut up by the silver solution in the bottle be- 
fore being used, as if any bisulphide of carbon is left undis- 
solved and gets in the solution in the tank it will turn the 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



2 43 



work black and will cause much difficulty before it can 
finally be removed. .Ample time should be taken to dissolve 
the carbon by shaking the bottle many times thoroughly. 
When the solution has settled after being shaken sufficiently, 
it can be held up to the light; if any particles of the carbon 
remain they will appear like small oil bubbles in the bottom. 
In that case the bottle should be shaken again until all the 
particles of carbon disappear. 

A bright plate of silver may be obtained without the addi- 
tion of any brightening ingredients by simply reducing the 
current and the anode surface. It will also assist matters 
to have the solution quite strong in cyanide and low in 
silver. 

Screws, washers, buttons, and other small articles may be 
bright plated in this way by using brass wire baskets of 
suitable size and mesh. Such work should be bright nickeled 
first and then handled like the work just described, except 
that in striking work in baskets, it takes somewhat longer 
and more current is required. The basket should be given 
a quick shake or jar from time to time, so that all parts may 
be exposed and struck up evenly. This should also be done 
when the basket is in the plating solution. 

This small work, of iron or steel, is usually polished and 
cleaned before plating by rolling in a small barrel revolving 
at about forty-five degrees and making two hundred to three 
hundred revolutions per minute. By rolling in this way 
with enough soap powder and water to make a thick suds 
or lather, the work will be thoroughly cleaned and highly 
polished. It should then be clipped out as required and put 
in baskets, rinsed, potashed and proceeded with as with any 
other work. After plating some classes of work may be 
polished in the same manner. 

The Management of Silver Solutions. — I wish to say 
here that the operator should know that his silver solution 
will require the addition of chloride of silver from time to 



244 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

time, no matter what class of work he is engaged in, where 
the solution is run continually and large quantities of work 
are being plated. Chloride of silver should be added every 
week or ten days ; using the thin anodes and scraps of silver 
to cut down and make the chloride for this purpose. Do 
not dump the chloride into the solution, but place it in a 
large pitcher or other handy vessel. Fill the pitcher with 
solution from your silver bath, stir up vigorously, let settle 
and pour the clear solution back into the silver bath. Re- 
peat this operation until the chloride of silver is all dis- 
solved. If the chloride is put directly into the solution 
some of it will remain undissolved and sink to the bot- 
tom of the tank, where it will do no good. 

Cyanide of potash should be added to the silver solution 
at times, but not so frequently as silver. 

I will now attempt to give the operator a few simple but 
very necessary directions to tell when his solution needs 
either silver or cyanide. Silver anodes, when suspended in 
the solution and net in use (that is, when nothing is being 
plated) should become white and bright if the solution is 
in a proper condition. If they remain dull, or of a dirty, 
dead color, it is a sure indication of the lack of free cyanide 
of potash in the solution. If the anodes turn a brown 
color when in use it indicates a lack of free cyanide and 
more should be added, as the work will plate slowly and 
unsatisfactorily when the solution gets in this state. Cyan- 
ide enough should be added, a little at a time, until the 
anodes do not take on the brown oxide when in use. When 
the silver solution becomes deficient in silver, which it does 
very easily, when being worked continually without fre- 
quent replenishing with chloride, the anode becomes black 
and coated over with a black oxide of silver, which will get 
so bad if the difficulty is not remedied by the addition of 
chloride of silver that it will leave the anode and become 
mixed through the solution in dark streaks. This may set- 
tle upon the articles being plated, but will in no way in- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 2 \ $ 

jure the deposit and will settle to the bottom of the tank 
during the night, when the solution is quiet. 

All of the above conditions are the well-known signs by 
which the experienced plater is able to tell quickly just what 
the difficulty with the silver solution is and how to remedy 
it. There arc many theories (but not among experienced 
silver platers, I think) as to what causes the different con- 
ditions at different times in the silver anodes, but a test 
will show that the rules herewith set forth are correct. 

The proper color for the silver plating anode is white, or 
nearly so, with a possible shade of gray. If the plater will 
keep these rules in mind and make use of them as the oc- 
casion demands, he will have no difficulty in keeping his 
solution in a healthy condition. 

Silver anodes should not be allowed to remain in the 
solution over night nor for any great length of time dur- 
ing the day when not in use, as the cyanide gradually at- 
tacks and dissolves the silver. When through using the 
solution remove the anodes, rinse in the silver rinse water, 
run them through hot water, so as to dry them quickly, and 
put carefully away, as on account of the roughened surface 
of the corroded metal they are difficult to clean, if allowed 
to get greasy or dirty. The anodes should, however, be 
allowed to remain in the solution long enough after plating 
ceases for them to take on the natural silver color, after 
which they may be removed and treated as above. 

It is good practice for the plater to weigh his silver 
anodes at the beginning and close of each day's work. In 
this way he knows just how much silver he has used on a 
given amount of work and can more easily figure the cost 
of work. 

Silver solutions, and. in fact, every other solution, should 
be filtered from time to time as the occasion requires 

Stripping Silver Plated Goods by the Electrk Cur- 
rent. — In stripping steel goods that have been silver plated, 



246 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

such as knives, forks, etc., the cyanide strip is always used. 
This is composed of one pound of C. P. Cyanide of Potash 
to each gallon of water used, with the addition of one pound 
of caustic soda to a four or five gallon strip. The caustic 
soda is not necessary to make the strip, but it facilitates the 
work. The strip will be ready for work as soon as made. 
The current must be reversed for stripping, which is done 
by hanging an old file or other clean piece of steel into 
the strip attached to the cathode pole or rod. Then the 
work to be stripped is wired up upon iron wire and attached 
to the anode rod, as the action of the current would soon 
cut copper wire, letting the work drop to the bottom. Sev- 
eral pieces may be stripped at once, say a dozen of knives, 
but they should not be w T ired too closely together, and when 
stripping the work should be agitated and all parts should 
be exposed to the steel cathode. A strong current should 
be used and the work kept moving in the strip. In this 
way a large amount of work may be stripped in a very short 
time. If the strip, after being worked for some time, re- 
fuses to work as fast as at first, clean the silver from the 
cathode. Let it go to the bottom of the strip. It will not 
work well when the cathode is coated thickly with silver. 
When the strip is used continuously, it will be necessary to 
add a little cyanide from time to time to keep up its work- 
ing strength. 

Britannia ware or white metal may be stripped in this 
strip just as readily as steel and in the same manner, but it 
is not recommended for German silver or brass goods, espe- 
cially the latter, which would be ruined by the action of 
the current, if not watched closely and kept agitated. Ger- 
man silver may be stripped in this way, provided it is not 
forgotten or left in the strip too long. 

Acid Stripping Solutions.— The strip generally used 
for brass and German silver goods and which also works 
well on Britannia or white metal, is composed of sulphuric 



TilK POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 



HI 



acid, to each gallon of which has been added one-hall pound 
of salt petre (nitrate of potash). This strip must be used 
hot and without a current. The best method of heating is 
by setting the jar containing the strip into a tub of hot wa- 
ter where it can be kept hot while in use (see Dips and 
Pickles). This strip should be tightly covered, as it will 
be ruined if any water is allowed to get into it, so care 
should be taken to have the work dry before immersing it 
in this strip. 

A very small quantity of nitric acid may be used in place 
of the saltpeter, say from four to eight ounces to each gallon 
of sulphuric acid. In case the nitric acid is used the work 
being stripped must be watched more closely and not al- 
lowed to remain in the strip any longer than is necessary, 
as the nitric acid causes the strip to work much more read- 
ily than does the saltpeter. The work should be imme- 
diately removed from the strip when al! traces of silver have 
been dissolved from its surface. 

To Recover Silver. — To recover the silver from the cya- 
nide strip, it may be allowed to settle and the clear liquid 
drawn off; then the sediment may be washed, dried and 
sent to the refinery, melted down again, or reduced to chlo- 
ride (see Chloride) and added to the solution. In 
removing the silver from an acid strip, it should be al- 
lowed to evaporate as much as possible and then be taken 
into the open air, water added to reduce the strength of the 
acid, and a solution of cyanide of potash slowly added with 
stirring to neutralize the acid and precipitate the silver. Then 
it can be washed and dried as in the other case. In doing 
this the plater should be careful to remember what has been 
said about adding water to acid in a previous chapter, as 
there is danger of its Hying and burning the workman, if 
much strong acid is present in the strip. 

Silver Plating Musical Instruments. — This is a spe- 
cial branch of plating that should be treated in detail be- 



248 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

cause of the value of the instrument and the difficulty in 
plating and finishing it properly ; also because of the great 
danger of spoiling the tone of the instrument or injuring 
its mechanical working. 

The metal from which cornets and horns are made being 
very thin, and their construction quite delicate, it is a difficult 
matter to properly strip off the old plate, which it is neces- 
sary to do before repeating them. So before stripping such 
goods remove all moveable parts, such as the valves. Have 
a quantity of assorted sizes of corks at hand with which all 
holes should be tightly corked ; also cork the hole in the bell 
of the instrument to prevent the acid from entering the 
inside of the horn while in the strip. 

A new strip, or at least one that there is positively no 
water in. should be used for stripping brass instruments 
and they should be left in the strip long enough to remove 
the old plate and no longer. This will usually be only a few 
minutes, if the strip is hot and in good working order. 
Next the instrument is removed, rinsed, the corks removed, 
and the instrument is again very thoroughly rinsed (the 
inside also) to remove any acid that may have worked in 
during stripping. Now dry it and proceed to polish. 

The polishing is also difficult, .on account of the danger of 
letting the instrument get caught in the wheel, which is apt 
to bend or break it. For this reason it is best to use small 
wheels on a rather small lathe. Polish as any ordinary 
brass work, but with more care and a more gentle pressure, 
to prevent denting. 

Now it should be potashed a few minutes and then thor- 
oughly scoured, using fine pumice and small brushes, sticks 
and rags to get in where the brush will not reach. After 
the scouring is thoroughly done rinse well inside and out, 
fill with clean water so that it will not float in the solution 
and again cork up tightly. Now it may be brushed over' 
again ; then run through the white clip and struck up. But 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING Ol METALS. 249 

the surest way is to run it through the bright acid dip, com- 
posed of : 

Sulphuric Acid 2 qts. 

Nitric Acid 1 qt. 

Salt '/. oz. 

That is, after it is cleaned, filled with water and corked 
up ; the dip into the acid must be very quickly done and the 
instrument immediately well rinsed, run through the mer- 
cury, or white dip and then struck up. 

An old and weak bright dip is the best to run the instru 
ment through, as the new dip takes hold with too much 
vigor and makes the work rough, while the old dip, no' 
being so powerful, works slower and with a more even and 
better effect. This dipping before plating is called "biting 
up," 

If the instruments to be plated are not tightly corked 
before plating they are sure to receive more or less deposit 
on the inside, which will cause the valves to work hard. 
or refuse to work at all. Too much plating upon the inside 
of the horn is liable to affect the tone of the instrument 
After plating the water is removed, usually into the silver 
rinse water. Then the horn is rubbed all over with wet 
sand (not scratch brushed) which gives it a much whiter 
and cleaner appearance than would scratch brushing. It is 
now finished unless it is to be burnished, all over or in part. 

The bell of a horn is gilded by inserting a cork in the 
neck of the bell, filling with gilding solution and proceeding 
as in gilding a cup or dish. To get the bright burnished 
effect, burnish the bell first, then rinse out with lye and gild 
once, not leaving the solution in the bell more than two to 
four minutes, which will give a beautiful, bright deposit not 
requiring any other finishing. 

Silvering the Inside of Tubes. — Tt i^ sometimes nec- 
essary to silver plate the inside of brass or copper tul 



250 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 

such as those employed by medical men and others. For 
this purpose, clean the work well by drawing a wet rag 
attached' to a string, and well saturated with pumice, back 
and forth through the tubes until cleaned ; rinse and then 
draw a rag through, saturated with the white dip ; now 
attach a long wire to the anode rod and to the other end a 
small sponge, soaked with silver solution. Attach the tube by a 
wire to the cathode rod and draw the sponge through sev- 
eral times. Be sure that the wire on the sponge does not 
come in contact with the tube. Finish with sand on a rag. 

The Appearance of Silver Work. — The experienced 
plater can tell at a glance, from the looks of his work, 
whether it is plating as it should. When the work begins 
to plate it has a bluish white cast, which changes into a 
pearly white and as the operation proceeds and the deposit 
becomes thicker changes to a pure plaster-like whiteness, 
which becomes more dense in color as the deposit thickens. 

Cyanide of Silver Solutions. — What particular advan- 
tage cyanide of silver solutions have over chloride solutions, 
is a question not thoroughly settled, though it is a fact 
that each method of obtaining the same end has its sup- 
porters. 

To prepare a cyanide of silver bath, proceed to reduce the 
metallic silver to nitrate as described for chloride. When 
the silver is all reduced, evaporate the acid as much as pos- 
sible, leaving the nitrate of silver. Now add four or five 
times its volume in clean distilled water, to the nitrate. 
When the nitrate is dissolved, precipitate this by slowly 
adding prussic acid (hydrocyanic acid) while stirring the 
whole with a glass rod. Add the prussic acid until no more 
precipitate is formed. Allow the precipitate to settle and 
pour off the fluid, taking up the resultant cyanide of silver 
with cyanide of potash, the same as you would do with 
chloride of silver, except that so much cyanide will not be 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 25 1 

required. Or, after the silver is all precipitated it may be 
filtered and the silver taken up as before. To determine 
whether all the silver is precipitated, add a few drops of 
prussic or hydrocyanic acid to the filtered liquid. If no 
sediment is formed, there is no silver left in the solution. 
This operation should be conducted out of doors, or under 
a hood, or in a chimney place, as the fumes are very injur- 
ious if inhaled. A dilute solution of cyanide of potash may 
be used in place of the prussic acid, by adding' the cyanide 
solution until no more precipitate is formed. Do not add 
cyanide in excess, a^ in that case some of the silver would 
be redissolved. 

Free Cyanide in Plating Solutions. — "Free Cyanide" 
means that after just enough cyanide of potash is used to 
take up a given quantity of metallic salts and hold them in 
solution any additional cyanide is in excess and this excess 
is called free cyanide. All cyanide solutions should con- 
tain a certain amount of free cyanide which, when the solu- 
tion is not in use will cause the anodes to take on their 
natural, bright, metallic color by dissolving the oxides formed 
upon the anodes during the plating process. If free cyanide 
is not present in sufficient quantities to accomplish this end, 
the oxides will remain on the anodes, obstructing the plat- 
ing operations and eventually preventing any deposit what- 
ever until the anodes are removed from the solution and 
their surfaces cleansed by brushing. This rule holds good 
with all cyanide solutions, especially those of brass, copper 
and bronze, as well as with silver. Care must be taken not 
to add too much free cyanide : in that case it makes the de- 
posit hard and brittle. If the free cyanide is very much in 
excess it may prevent the formation of any deposit on the 
cathode, which will come from the solution as it went in. In 
that case more metallic salts must be added to reduce die 
amount of surplus cyanide. This should be accomplished 
with the cathode in the solution and a weak currenl on, so 



252 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

as to determine when enough metal has been added to make 
the solution deposit properly. 

There is another way of adding cyanide to a bath which 
is practiced on large solutions by platers with a knowledge 
of chemistry, or who have had a chemist figure out certain 
reactions and proportions for them. This is the addition 
of hydrocyanic acid to the solution, instead of a cyanide of 
potash, whenever the lack of cyanogen is indicated in the 
solution. 

We do not recommend this practice as a matter of general 
application for the reason that it is easy to get in too much, 
particularly in small solutions, and also because hydrocyanic 
acid is dangerous to keep around, unless handled by those 
who know what they are doing. The fumes of cyanogen 
gas will arise from the acid whenever it is uncovered and 
such fumes are at least fifteen times the volume and strength 
of those coming from cyanide of potassium, either dry or 
dissolved, so that platers who have trouble from handling 
cyanide of potash should let hydrocyanic acid entirely alone, 
or at best take great care never to inhale its fumes. Still 
the process has certain attractions, from a theoretical and 
chemical standpoint, which frequently induces its use and as 
it is frequently sold to platers as a great secret, we give 
the entire theory so that those unacquainted with chemistry 
may fully understand it. 

Cyanogen is a gas, easily separated from most of its com- 
pounds, particularly in the presence of heat. To the fact 
tftat it forms unstable compounds is due its extensive use 
in plating solutions. 

When associated with potash it is called cyanide of pot- 
ash and as such is well known to every plater. In the solu- 
tion it leaves the potash and attacks the oxides of metals 
formed on the anodes, forming cyanates of these metals, 
which then flow to the cathode and are decomposed by 
being robbed of their metals. This cycle of operations is 
continuous. We thus see that there is in a working solu- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 253 

lion a constant setting free of cyanogen gas, which is partly 
held in solution by the potash and partly allowed to escape 
into the air, where it forms the well-known odor of cyanide, 
common to every plating room. In the course of time so 
much cyanogen has been allowed to escape into the air that 
we then have a complex condition of the bath, which con- 
sists of cyanates of the metal, held in solution by cyanide 
of potash, and also potassium hydrate, or caustic potash, 
which was left in the solution when the cyanogen evap- 
orated. When this reaches a stage at which no free cya- 
nogen is left to attack the metallic oxides on the anodes, no 
metal is dissolved and well-known troubles occur, which we 
need not take time to specify here. 

Now right here is the difference in the two methods of 
supplying the needed amount of cyanogen. The plater sim- 
ply adds more cyanide of potash and allows that to be de- 
composed also, relying upon the steady removal of solution 
on the work to eventually dispose of the excess of caustic 
potash which keeps accumulating in the solution. 

The chemist claims to get better results by making up the 
loss of cyanogen by evaporation as a gas by the addition of 
cvanogen in the highly concentrated form of hydrocyanic 
acid, maintaining that the cyanogen so introduced will re- 
combine with the caustic potash left in the solution and 
again form cyanide of potash, thus restoring the solution 
to its original constitution. 

This is all there is to the great question of the use of 
hydrocyanic acid. If solutions are large and old, so that 
they contain a great deal of caustic potash, the addition of 
cyanogen in this concentrated form will clean them up and 
reinvigorate them to a wonderful degree. If the plater 
always knew how much caustic potash he had in his solution 
it would be the ideal way of adding cyanogen ; but the 
trouble is that he does not know and is liable to overdo the 
matter, particularlv in a small solution. 

If it is decided to use this method on an obi solution, add 



254 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



a few drops at a time to some silver solution in a pitcher, 
stir well and return the solution to the tank and then stir 
the solution in the tank. By proceeding cautiously, each 
night, the solution will have all night in which to absorb 
the gas and reform the cyanide of potash. If too much has 
been put in, the indications of too much cyanide will be the 
same as already set forth elsewhere in this book. This 
method applies to all cyanide solutions in which potash is 
used. 

Silver Plating Without a Battery. — Silver plating 
may be accomplished without the use of dynamos or bat- 
tery, but is not to be recommended except in cases of emer- 
gency. The first way is to take the article to be plated after 
properly cleaning ; attach to one end of a copper wire about 
one foot long; bend the wire in U-shape. Attach to the 
other end a small piece of sheet zinc. Immerse both the 
zinc and work to be plated into the solution. This sets up 
electro-chemical action which will give a deposit of silver 
upon the object to be plated. Then it is to be finished in the 
ordinary way. The great drawback to this process is the 
fact that the silver is also deposited upon the zinc. 

For plating with silver all small cheap novelty goods made 
of copper, brass, or German silver, the articles should be 
placed in a stone ware crock or dipping basket, potashed, run 
through the bright dipping acid two or three times if neces- 
sary to get them perfectly clean and bright. The work must 
be of uniform brightness, not being spotted or discolored in 
patches. Now have a jar of the ordinary silver plating 
solution, large enough to receive the dipping crock sitting in 
the hot water tank (to heat it). It works best and quickest 
when as hot as the boiling water will make it. Dip the work 
quickly, shaking the dipping crock if the work be flat and 
inclined to lie close together, so that all parts may be dipped 
bright. Rinse quickly and abundantly in clean cold water, 
then give a quick dip in the hot silver solution, shaking vig- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



00 



orou^ly so as to plate all parts evenly. Let drain a moment, 

then rinse in cold, then hoi water and dr\ in hot ckan saw- 
dust. Work not suitable or too large for dipping cr< cks 
or baskets may be wired on copper wire and plated in the 
same manner. This process will work very well also by 
using- the silver solution cold. This class of work should 
be handled very rapidly. 

Another method for silvering larger articles, or for 
cleaning or resilvering articles already plated : 

Chloride, of Silver 2 parts. 

Cream of Tartar 2 parts. 

Water to make this paste. 

(To make the chloride see Silver Solution.) Mix well and 
apply with rag or sponge. 

Another formula to be applied as above : 

Cyanide of Silver solution ("rich) 2 oz. 

Whitening i oz. 

Put both in a bottle and shake well before using. 



CHAPTER X. 

NICKEL PLATING. 

It was the prevailing opinion among the older platers a 
few years ago that plating solutions, especially nickel, were 
affected by the atmospheric conditions. It was supposed 
that for some unaccountable reason solutions would not work 
well on cloudy days, so when the plater had a batch of poor 
or failed work on such days, it was very convenient to lay it 
to the weather. Another fallacy was that the sun's rays 
across a solution prevented the objects hanging directly in 
the sun's rays from being plated as readily as those not so 
affected. But all these theories have been exploded long 
ago and now when the operator has trouble with his work- 
he must shift about for a more plausible excuse. 

Nickel Plating on Brass, Bronze or Copper Goods. — 
If ever the motto, "Cleanliness is next to godliness," was 
applicable to one line of work more than another, the prep- 
aration of work for the plating bath is that line. Too much 
care and pains cannot be taken in the preparation and exam- 
ination of work just before going into the plating bath. 
When properly and thoroughly cleaned, the most difficult 
part of the operation has been accomplished. Work to be 
plated should never be allowed to enter the plating bath until 
absolutely clean. 

It is easier to plate ten or twenty pieces of new work that 
have never been plated before than to replate one piece that 
has been blistered or failed. There is very little satisfaction 
in doing work over ; it seems like throwing money away. 
That rs why particular stress is laid upon this one point of 

256 



MM-: POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 237 

cleanliness and careful examination before plating. The old 

operator has learned this fact by a very costly experience, 
but the lesson has been well learned; consequently he will 
not try to plate an object that is not chemically as well as 
mechanically clean, and thus save himself much unnecessary 
work and some worry. It will be much better for the young 
man to learn this lesson from the experience of others and 
preserve his peace of mind. What is meant by chemically 
clean is to have the article when ready for the plating bath 
so that the clean rinsing water will flow evenly all over the 
article. If the water breaks and draws away from any part 
of the object it is a sure indication that it is not clean and it 
must be cleaned again. This rule aoplies to all kinds of 
metal : also to all kinds of plating. 

Polished brass goods should come from the finishing buff 
as clean as possible; that is, without the tripoli, rouge or 
other buffing compounds being left in corners, crevices and 
chased or rough parts of the work. The expert and skillful 
buffer can avoid this by using a little care, and it greatly 
facilitates the work for the plater, allowing him to handle 
greater quantities of work in a given time, do it easier and 
turn out much better work. 

When properly polished, small brass or bronze work only 
needs to be wired upon suitable wire so that the pieces will 
not touch each other. The wires must not be long enough 
to reach to or lie on the bottom of the plating vat. When 
strung on wires of even length they may be taken a dozen 
or more wires at a time and the work swished up and down 
in the hot potash, which should be mar to the boiling point, 
but not boiling. When the work changes color slightly, im- 
merse in cold running water, then for a few seconds into a 
cyanide dip, composed of C. P. cyanide of potash one pound 
to each gallon of water. Then put it hack into the clean 
running water, rinse thoroughly and hang into the nickel 
solution immediately, as the air will cause the goods to oxi- 
dize if allowed to remain exposed even a few minutes, and 
this will cause the plate to strip, or peel off. 



258 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

Small goods handled in bunches on wires may be held un- 
der the surface of the solution with one hand, while being 
fastened to the cathode or plating rod with the other. 

Work that does not come clean from the burling room will 
have to be potashed as just described, then well brushed 
with a soft brush and potash, or with whiting or Vienna 
lime, to remove the dirt and grease after it has been loosened 
by the hot potash. Then it should be rinsed in the potash 
again, then in water followed by the cyanide dip and water 
as before. 

Rough castings and matted pieces of brass or bronze 
should be dipped in a bright acid dip before polishing, if 
there are any parts to be polished, then thoroughly potashed 
and handled as above described. 

The plater should be very careful not to allow the pieces 
of work to touch or lap over each other when wired up to be 
plated. If this happens the covered or shaded parts of the 
work will receive a thin and inferior deposit of a dark cast. 
If the solution is not in first-class condition from any cause, 
the shaded or covered parts may not receive any deposit 
whatever. Large and heavy pieces of brass or bronze 
should have suitable hanging wires, or hooks of copper, so 
that a sufficient amount of current may pass freely through 
them. If small wires are used on large and heavy work 
they cause too much resistance and are very liable to burn 
and break. It also takes a much longer time to get the re- 
quired deposit than it does when sufficiently large wires are 
used. 

All objects in the nickel solution should be hung just far 
enough apart on the cathode rods so that they will not touch, 
and should be plated with as large a quantity of current as 
can be used without burning the work on the edges or pro- 
jecting parts. 

The very best results in nickel plating are obtained by 
running the work a long time, say from a half-hour to an 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 259 

hour, with a moderately weak current rather than using an 
intense current and a much shorter time. The plate that is 
forced on in a short time with a strong current is porous 
and brittle, is harder to polish and more liable to peel off. 

It is a good plan before beginning to hang in the work in 
the nickel solution to hang an anode on the cathode rod at 
the point at which the current first enters the vat from the 
anodes used in feeding the solution. This will catch the 
brunt of the current and reduce its volume, thus preventing 
the work from burning. Before beginning to fill the tank 
with work the current should be reduced to the weakest 
point by the use of the rheostat or switchboard, with which 
each plating vat should be supplied. Very often the current 
cannot be reduced sufficiently in this way ; hence, the use of 
the anode at the end of the tub on the center rod. Very 
often the operator has only a small amount of work to be 
plated (not enough to fill the vat), when the use of two 
anodes on the cathode rod, one at each end, with the work 
between them, will be found very convenient. 

Under ordinary conditions and with a moderate current 
the anode surface should he equal to the surface of the batch 
of work being plated, this will usually give a uniform de- 
posit. If the anode surface is much greater than the surface 
of the work being plated and the current cannot be cut down 
sufficiently by the rheostat, it causes the work to plate too 
rapidly, thereby burning, hence the use of the anodes at 
cither end of the tub on the center rod. On the other hand, 
if there is insufficient surface of the anodes in the vat for 
the amount of work being plated the solution will he robbed 
of its metal and the deposit will soon have an inferior bluish 
cast. The work should never be allowed to hang too close 
to the anodes, six to eight inches being a satisfactory dis- 
tance on most work. 

A £ood nickel solution for plating all ordinary brass and 
copper articles where a good white and heavy deposit is re- 
quired is composed of the following: About nine ounce-- oi 



260 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

double sulphate of nickel and ammonia salts to each gallon 
of water. To every fifty gallons of nickel solution add eight 
ounces of boracic acid. This has a tendency to give the 
plate a snowy white appearance. 

Another very good solution is composed of nine ounces of 
the double sulphate of nickel and ammonia salts to each gal- 
lon of water and from eight to sixteen ounces of granulated 
sal ammoniac (chloride of ammonium) to each fifty gallons 
of solution. Sal ammoniac in a nickel solution causes it to 
be a better conductor of electricity, thus causing it to plate 
more rapidly. 

The general standard for nickel plating solutions is 7° 
B. Some platers prefer to have their solutions rich in metal 
and stand above 7° B. ; others get better results from a 
weaker solution, one standing 6° B., or even as low as 5° 
B. In the writer's experience with all classes and kinds of 
nickel solutions he has had the most satisfactory and uni- 
form results with solution that stands from $y 2 B. to 6° B. 
on the hydrometer. Solutions that stand above 7 B. on the 
hvdrometer are very apt to be too dense, often giving a dark 
and at times even a black deposit, and finally no deposit at 
all. This state of affairs may be remedied by drawing off 
part of the solution and adding cold water, thus reducing its 
density. 

The Solution. — The double salt should be purchased of a 
dealer in platers' supplies, and care should be taken to get it 
pure and to use as pure water as possible. The salt is dis- 
solved by boiling nine to fifteen ounces of the salts per gal- 
lon of water in a stone jar which has never been used for 
anything else, and filling up the bath with water until a hy- 
drometer placed in it stands at 6*/2° B. to 7 B. This is 
the method followed for a small bath. 

For a large bath this operation would take a couple of 
days and is not to be thought of, on account of the stoppage 
of the work for so long a time. Large baths are made by 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 26 I 

attaching a hose to a live steam pipe and putting a pipe with 
a steam valve on it on the other end of the hose, so that the 
steam may be readily controlled. Fill your vat about half 
full of cold water. Then take a large stone jar, perfectly 
clean and large enough to hold several gallons, put a large 
quantity of double sulphate into the jar, filling it perhaps 
half full ; then add some cold water. Next turn on the 
steam, open the valve and allow the live steam to blow 
through a little to take out all dirt, oil, etc., that may be in 
the pipe; then shut the steam off, put the pipe in the jar 
and open the valve slightly, so that the steam enters and 
dissolves the salts, which it does very rapidly. Dip out the 
heavy solution as fast as it fills the jar and add it to the 
water in the tank, stirring vigorously after each addition of 
salt, until the solution stands at 6 l / 2 ° B. to y° B. A work- 
man can dissolve a hundred pounds of salt and get a large 
solution, ready in an hour in this way, when it would take 
all dav. or even longer, to boil and make the solution as first 
described. 

Bbight Xickelixg. — Bright nickeling is the process of 
plating all small brass or copper goods so that they require 
no polishing or finishing after coming from the plating bath. 
This solution is used mostly where small goods are handled 
that require to be plated cheaply, at the same time having 
a high finish and a durable plate. Several kinds of work- 
requiring to be bright plated may be handled in baskets 
made of brass or iron netting with a suitable mesh, according 
to the size of the work to be handled. Brass wire netting 
or screen is best to make baskets for this purpose, as it 
causes less resistance of the current than iron netting. All 
small objects, such as screws washer-, etc., may be readily 
plated in this manner by covering the bottoms of the baskets 
evenly with the work to be plated, alter it has been highly 
polished, then running the work through the cleansing solu- 
tions as any ordinary work. The baskets should then be 



262 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

placed in the solution with a moderate current and allowed 
to run from fifteen minutes to half an hour. The baskets 
should be shaken two or three times during the process of 
plating, to move the work, so that all parts may be exnosed 
and receive an even, uniform plate. When the work has 
been sufficiently plated remove, rinse in cold water, then in 
boiling hot water and dry immediately in hardwood saw- 
dust. Any small objects may be plated in this way, whether 
strung on wires or plated in baskets. Where the wires are 
used the work should be hung quite closely together in the 
plating solution and a weak current used to prevent the work 
from losing its brilliancy and taking on that snowy white 
cast which requires buffing. It must be borne in mind, 
however, that any object to be taken from a solution bright, 
and having a high polish must be bright and have a high 
polish when it enters the solution. Solutions for bright nick- 
eling may be made the same as the foregoing nickel solu- 
tions, except that they should not stand more than 5^° or 
6° B. on the hydrometer and to every fifty gallons of solution 
should be added one pound of single nickel salts (sulphate of 
nickel). This gives the brightness to the solutions. § 

The operator, in making up nickel or any other solutions, 
will be required to use some judgment in regard to the 
chemicals he uses, as sometimes stated amounts will fail to 
produce required or expected results, the reason being that 
one very often, through ignorance or by mistake, buys in- 
ferior, old or adulterated chemicals. For that reason it some- 
times requires double the amount of certain ingredients in a 
formula to get the desired results. If quantities are weighed 
and some of the chemicals are so dry that they have lost their 
water of crystallization, you will get more metal in a given 
weight. Therefore it is always better and cheaper to buy 
materials and chemicals from a reputable house that makes a 
specialty of this class of goods. Where there are two or 
three different grades of platers' supplies, it is generally 
false economy to buy the cheaper goods, as in order to get 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 263 

good results in the plating, one needs the best of everything. 
The best quality gives the most satisfaction and generally 
proves the cheapest in the long run. The remarks on the 
purchase and storage of supplies in a previous chapter should 
be borne in mind. 

Xickel Plating on Iron and Steel. — Iron and steel 
goods usually require more work in the preparation for the 
plating bath than brass goods and usually require a longer 
time to plate, as such goods are generally given a very 
heavy deposit. Cheap iron goods may be plated directly on 
the iron or steel, but the better class of work is usually cop- 
per plated, either in a cyanide or duplex copper solution 
(see copper plating) after coming from the polisher. It is 
buffed after the copper plate and then treated like other 
copper or brass goods in preparing for the nickel solution. 

Iron castings that are to be nickel plated should be thor- 
oughly pickled (see pickles) to remove all sand and scales 
before going to the polishing room. After polishing they 
should be potashed in very strong potash, then rinsed, 
dipped in a cyanide dip and scoured thoroughly with pow- 
dered pumice stone. After scouring they are rinsed thor- 
oughly in clean water, immersed for a moment in a dip 
composed of one gallon of muriatic acid to five gallons of 
water, rinsed again in clean water and hung in the nickel 
solution immediately. A great many platers use the cyan- 
ide dip as the last dip. just before rinsing and plating, for 
iron and steel as well as brass : this is a mistake, as one 
can readily see bv passing the hand over the work just as 
it comes from the cyanide dip, or after it has been rinsed 
in clean water. The object so treated will be slippery, or 
slimy, and this is not the best kind of a surface to receive the 
plate. This is the cause of much of the peeling and failing 
of nickel work on steel and iron. On the other hand if the 
work after being thoroughly cleaned is passed through tin- 
muriatic dip. then rinsed in clean water, it will be found to 



264 'iHE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

have an adhesive touch, thus giving the nickel a much better 
surface to adhere to. It will be found if this plan is tried 
that there will rarely, if ever, be any work to do over on 
account of blistering or peeling. 

Nickel on Tin, Lead, Brittania and Other Soft Mft- 
als. — Nickel may be plated directly upon all these metals 
except zinc ; this plating would be of no commercial value 
unless the object is first copper plated and put in shape to 
take a high finish. Articles made from the above named 
metals requiring to be nickel plated must first be suitably 
polished (see Polishing), then given a heavy deposit of cop- 
per, after which they should be buffed up bright and nickel 
plated like other brass and copper goods. 

In preparing these inferior metals for plating, care must 
be taken not to scratch or remove the finish and they should 
not be allowed to oxidize or to remain too long in the potash. 
This class of work, when wired up, should be held in the 
hand, swished in the potash for a few seconds, then cleaned 
with a soft brush and whiting, or Vienna lime, ready for 
the copper solution. This class of work, especially lead ar- 
ticles, should be given a. heavy coat of copper, as lead and 
its alloys have a tendency to absorb the copper plate. A 
light copper plate upon a piece of lead pipe or other object 
will disappear in about twenty-four hours. 

It must be remembered by the operator that the object 
being plated will receive only a certain amount or thickness 
of nickel, as it is deposited under a molecular tension. After 
it has received this certain amount the strains set up in the 
nickel will be greater than its adhesion to the work and the 
plate will begin to curl up and peel off in layers, thus ruin- 
ing the plate and requiring it to be refinished and replated. 

There is no fixed rule as to just when this occurs. With 
a strong current and a good solution it may occur in a half 
hour's time ; with a weaker solution and weaker current the 
work may often be run as much as two hours with safety. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 265 

The operator will be obliged to regulate this condition ac- 
cording to the class of work being handled, the condition of 
his solution and the plate required. 

Nickel being in itself a greasy metal, therefore it is dif- 
ficult to get the greasy surface clean enough to plate nickel 
upon nickel and secure an adhesive result; it may be done, 
however, where the old nickel cannot be or is very hard to 
be removed, by paying special attention to the cleaning of 
the nickel object to be replated. It should be cleaned with 
strong cyanide and whiting or Vienna lime, and then rinsed 
iri clean cold water. If the water flows freely all over the 
article it may be immersed immediately in the nickel solution 
and plated with a weak current, for not more than ten or 
fifteen minutes. It is useless to attempt to get a heavy de- 
posit upon old nickel, as it invariably peels off if any great 
amount is deposited. 

Stripping Nickel. — This strip or dip should be put in 
an earthen jar with an earthen cover and kept tightly cov- 
ered when not in use. When being used it should be placed 
in the open air or where there is a good draft to carry away 
the acid fumes. 

The mixture is as follows : Three parts sulphuric acid, two 
parts nitric acid. This is for stripping the nickel from brass, 
copper or bronze goods only. 

The work should be wired and thoroughly potashed, 
swung in the air until dry, then placed directly in the strip- 
ping solution without rinsing. It should be held in the hand 
and moved around in the strip for a few minutes then re- 
moved and rinsed thoroughly in cold running water, then 
in hot water. l\ the nickel is not all removed, the work 
should be potashed again and the operation repeated. This 
stripping process may be hastened by the addition of a 
small quantity of water to the strip, but care musl be taken 
in this case nol to allow the work to remain in the strip too 
long, as it readily attacks the brass surface when water is 
present, leaving it rough and spongy. 



266 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

To remove the nickel plate from iron or steel goods it is 
necessary to remove the plate by polishing with fe 1 t or can- 
vas wheels, set up with 120 or 150 emery and finished as 
other polished goods. There are no chemical solutions 
known to the writer that can be recommended for the re- 
moving of old nickel from iron or steel, hence we must have 
recourse to the polishing wheel. 

Where a very high class of work is required in nickel plat- 
ing and there is any doubt as to the purity of the anodes, it 
is a very good plan to have cotton bags or sacks made to 
fit the anodes. Each anode may be inserted in such a bag 
before it is placed in the solution. The- bags should have 
puckering strings to be drawn tightly around the top of the 
anode. Where these bags are used it will prevent any for- 
eign substances or alloys that may be in the anodes from 
getting in the solution or on the work to be plated. It is 
claimed for this process by those who have used it that it is 
possible to get much superior results in color and deposit. 

The Doctor or Sponge. — This is a very handy and use- 
ful little device for patching or plating spots which have 
worn off, been buffed through, or peeled up, when it is not 
convenient or desirable to replate the whole object. The 
doctor is made by taking a thin strip of nickel, say five or 
six inches long by one-half inch wide. If the nickel can- 
not be had, a strip of brass or copper may be used by first 
plating it heavily with nickel. Then put a small piece of 
sponge over one end, binding it tightly with a cord, and 
drill a small hole in the other end. Attach tightly to this a 
thin copper wire, two or three feet long, and fasten the 
other end of the wire securely to the positive or anode rod at 
one end of the plating vat. When about to use the doctor 
let it hang in the solution so that the sponge will become 
saturated with solution and soft. Then, after cleaning the 
object to be doctored, place it upon the negative or cathode 
rod, making sure to have a good connection between the ob- 



THE 1'OLISIIING AND PLATING OF METALS. 2b] 

ject to be treated and the rod upon which it rests. Hold the 
object with one hand and the doctor or sponge in the other. 
Apply this saturated sponge gently to the part to be plated, 
moving it back and forth. Do not let it rest in one place, 
as this will blacken the spot. A weak current should be 
used for this operation, but it should be strong enough to 
deposit the metal readily. The sponge should be kept wet 
by frequently dipping it in the solution. 

This is of great value, especially where large pieces have 
been plated, finished and found to have failed, or been cut 
through by the finishing buff in one or two small places. It 
can be readily patched up, thus saving the time and expense 
of replating the whole object. 

The Care of Nickel Solutions. — When the nickel solu- 
tion is working properly it will give off gas bubbles from 
the work being plated and these bubbles may form a whitish 
scum about the wires, especially where the work is plated 
for a considerable time with a strong current. 

Xickel solutions used solely for plating brass, bronze and 
copper goods have a tendency to become alkaline. This is 
owing to the fact that the work is usually dipped in the 
cyanide dip just before being rinsed and hung in the plating 
vat. Very often the cyanide is not thoroughly rinsed from 
the work; especially is this true where the work being plated 
is hollow or has deep depressions. Where this class of work 
is being handled the solution is readily reduced to an alka- 
line condition if great care is not observed in rinsing the 
work for plating. 

In solutions used exclusively for plating iron and steel 
directly (without the use of the copper plate) the oppi 
condition usually happens, thai is, the solution becomes too 
aeid. This is caused from the fact that the iron or steel 
work is usually pickled to remove the sand or scale and a 
portion of the acid remains in the pores of the metal. When 
placed in the solution the action of the current causes the 



268 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

acid to ooze out, thus, after a time, rendering the solution 
acid. 

Nickel solutions are tested as to their density or richness 
by the use of the hydrometer, by which means we get the 
specific gravity. Each solution has its standard. Thus, a 
nickel solution is standard for ordinary work at j° B., and 
every other solution has its proper standard according to the 
class of work for which it is required. The ordinary nickel 
solution standing at y° B. would be unsatisfactory if used 
with the revolving baskets described in another chapter. 
Solutions for the latter work must stand from 25 ° B. to 
30° B. 

Nickel solutions should be slightly acid to obtain the best 
results, especially on iron or steel work. Red and blue lit- 
mus paper are used for testing the solution in order to de- 
termine this point. If we dip red litmus paper into the solu- 
tion and the paper turns blue at once it indicates too much 
alkali ; if the blue paper immediately turns red, it indicates 
too much acid. If the action is slower, it indicates a less 
degree of acidity or alkalinity. If neither red nor blue lit- 
mus is discolored the bath is neutral. If the bath is alkaline, 
double nickel salts should be added as a ready means of 
correction. If the solution has sufficient salts already and 
it is not desired to add more, a very small quantity of mu- 
riatic or sulphuric acid may be added. This will neutralize 
the alkali and give a white deposit of nickel on the work. 
Great care should be observed not to get too much acid in 
the solution ; an ounce or two will be generally sufficient for 
ten to twenty gallons, and the solution should be stirred and 
time given for the acid to diffuse before testing again or ad- 
ding more acid. Care must be taken not to use 
too much single salts, as it has a tendency to cause the plate 
to peel where a heavy deposit is required. It also makes the 
deposit hard and brittle. The acid in a solution may also 
be neutralized by using several ounces of bicarbonate of 
soda, dissolved in water and stirred into the solution. Or it 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF MKTAI.S. 269 

may be powdered finely, stirred into the solution thoroughly 
and allowed to settle over night This will get the desired 
result and will not harm the solution. 

Liquid ammonia is also very useful in neutralizing the 
excess acid in a solution. 

Sometimes the solution becomes too dense on account of 
the constant removal of water, which adheres to the work 
as it is removed from the tank. When the solution is too 
dense the anodes will be covered with crystallized nicke! 
salts. When this occurs it will be impossible to get a good 
deposit, and if the anodes are allowed to be completely co>. - 
ered with these crystals, no deposit at all will be obtainable 
because the metal anodes are insulated from the solution, the 
crystals being a non-conductor of electricity. To remove the 
crystallized salts, the anodes should be placed in a jar con- 
taining clean boiling water, when the salts will be readily 
dissolved from the anodes. The salts dissolved in this water 
are then added to the nickel solution. 

When the nickel baths are being worked very hard for a 
long period of time they sometimes become depleted of their 
metal. When this occurs they should be built up by the 
addition of double (sulphate of nickel and ammonia) salts, 
which may be dissolved in boiling water and added to the 
solution, or tied up in cotton cloth, or put into perforated 
earthen dipping baskets and hung into the solution over 
night. If it is required to add any considerable amount of 
salts to the solution this latter process will be found too 
slow, and the boiling water or the live steam pipe should be 
resorted to. 

Long objects hung vertically should be turned after being 
coated about half the desired thickness, as the nickeling is 
always heavier at the bottom of a deep solution ; for this rea- 
son it is better to hang the work with its greates! dimensions 
horizontal when possible. 

Nickeling objects which are longer than the plating tank- 
is a nroblem which the plater very i ften has to solve in plat- 



270 THE rOLISIIING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

ing such things as brass rods, flush pipes, rails and other 
long objects. It must be done properly at the first attempt, 
because the failure on such a job would cost more than the 
job would be worth. When the object to be plated is longer 
than the vat it should be thoroughly cleaned a little more 
than half its length. When ready for the solution a long 
hook or wire of suitable thickness should be attached to the 
clean end. This end should be lowered in one end of the 
solution nearly to the bottom, but not allowed to touch; the 
other end is allowed to rest on the edge of the opposite end 
of the vat, being bound to the center rod by a wire to insure 
perfect connection. As soon as the rod is thoroughly con- 
nected a basin of cold clean water should be poured upon the 
object being plated, just where it protrudes from the solu- 
tion. This should be repeated once or twice while the object 
is being plated. When sufficiently plated it should be re- 
moved from the solution, the plated end being rinsed and 
dried. Then the other end should be treated similarly, see- 
ing that the part where the joint is to be made is thoroughly 
cleaned. This time it should be cleaned a foot above where 
the joint is to be made on the part already nickeled and then 
proceed as before. 

Nickel solutions should never be allowed to freeze, or 
come very near a freezing point, as the cold has a tendency 
to precipitate the salts in the solution. When salts have 
crystallized out of a solution in this way they will be found 
in the tank at the bottom of the solution and they will have 
to be removed, redissolved, and added to the solution. 

Hot Nickel Solutions. — As a general rule nickel can- 
not be deposited beyond a certain thickness upon any work. 
After it has attained its maximum thickness, it separates or 
peels up from the work of its own accord. This is owing 
to the tension of the particles of metal being deposited. 
When this tension exerts a force greater than the adhesion 
of the nickel to the work the coating of nickel will break 



THE POLISHING AND PLHTING Ol METALS. 27 1 

and be torn oft. A thicker and heavier deposit may, how- 
ever, be obtained by heating the solution and keeping it hot 
by means of steam pipes or otherwise. It should be kept 
between 150 F. and 190 F. Nickel solutions which are 
used hot should be filtered from time to time and kept clean, 
as in a hot solution the mud at the bottom is more apt to 
become mixed with the solution, causing a rough deposit. 
The hot solution is not in general use and is recommended 
only where extra heavy deposits are required. 

Doctoring with Steam. — I have always found live 
steam an infallible remedy where everything else failed for 
fixing up a "sick" nickel solution. Solutions very often 
become too alkaline from the careless use of the cyanide dip 
and caustic potash which is not thoroughly rinsed from the 
work and is very often left inside hollow pieces. This 
causes the work to come from the solution a dark blue shade 
and the plate does not adhere well. Then the solution may 
become too acid in the careless handling of iron or steel 
work to be nickel plated where pickles and acid dips are 
used. This causes the work to be hard, brittle and peel off 
readily. There are many other causes for these effects, but 
as the remedy is the same in each case it will not be neces- 
sary to give them. Where the usual antidotes fail it will be 
found that a vigorous boiling of the solution with a hose 
attached to a live steam pipe with a pipe at the other end 
of the hose to be thrust into the solution with a valve to con- 
trol the steam. If boiled for one-half hour in this way, it 
will be found that all the alkali and acids have been recom- 
bined. Then the solution should be allowed to cool and will 
generally work as well as when new. If the solution is n< I 
too large, it ma}' be removed and boiled in a clean barrel 
arranged for the purpose or in large crocks ; but where the 
solution is too bulky for this the steam may be brought to 
the solution vat by means of a hope and the pipe at the end 
immersed well down near the bottom of the vat. Solul 



272 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



should never be boiled with much mud in the bottom. It 
must be removed first. 

Moving Solutions. — The sediment and mud at the bottom 
of the nickel solution is caused mostly by alloys and impuri- 
ties in anodes and chemicals, also partly by dust and dirt 
settling in them. It should be removed from time to time, 
as it is bound to be stirred up by fishing for work which 
has fallen to the bottom of the tank. This sediment being 
mixed through the solution then settles upon the work 
being plated, causing a roughness which is very detrimental 
to good work. In removing this sediment the solution 
should be allowed to settle over night and then draw off with 
a rubber hose in the form of a syphon. Throw away the 
mud, rinse out the vat and pour the solution back through 
a cotton or cotton flannel strainer nailed on sticks and laid 
across the vat. Then add water to fill the vat to the proper 
height and nickel salts to maintain its specific gravity. 

In handling a solution as indicated above, or in moving it 
when going to a new place of business, great care must be 
taken to use only new and clean barrels for holding the 
nickel solution. Nearly every month the supply dealers are 
appealed to for aid in fixing up a nickel solution which has 
been put into kerosene, alcohol or whiskey barrels, or even 
beer barrels — anything that does not leak. Such a solution 
when once contaminated, can never be made to give first- 
class results afterwards. The only remedy is to make a 
new one. If you have an empty tank, well lined, it may be 
washed and used to hold any solutions while filtering them 
and cleaning up the working tank. If not, get new barrels ; 
line them with tank lining and keep them for this purpose 
only. It will save money in the long run. 

Protecting Anode Rods. — The anode rods and hooks 
on the plating vats, especially of nickel solutions, but on 
cvanide solutions of different kinds as well, may be protected 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



2 73 



from the drippings of solution and water and thereb) save 
a good deal of labor in the cleaning ol the rods and hooks. 
The best device where the material is at hand is to take an 
old rubber hose, one or one and one-half inches in diameter, 
cut it into lengths of the inside measurement of the vat and 
then with a sharp knife slit it up one side, from end to end. 
Then spring it over the anode rod, hooks and all. You will 
find that by taking advantage of this simple device, cleaning 
the reds will lie required only once a week instead of every 
day. or twice a day in some very busy shops. Thin, narrow- 
boards may lie fitted over the rods and given a slant into 
the vat, which will answer; or strips of oilcloth may he 
hound around the rods to protect them where the hose is not 
available. 

To Get the Greatest Capacity. — In the busy nickel 
plating room, where large quantities of small and cheap 
work arc handled a very good plan to follow is to reduce the 
current sufficiently when beginning to fill the vat, gradually 
increasing, the current as the vat fills with work', until the vat 
is full and you are using all the current possible without 
burning corners or projecting parts. By the time the vat 
is full from twenty to thirty minutes will have elapsed ; 
then you may start at the first end again, taking nut and 
hanging in the work. This may be kept up all day if the 
amount of work demands it. Thus you are working your 
solution to its fullest capacitv. In this way much time may 
be saved and the amount of work done in a single tank is 
greatly increased. Some platers do not like this plan, as it 
causes too much physical exertion. They prefer the old way 
of filling up the vats and then sitting down until it is time 
to put in another lot of work, that time being easily con- 
trolled by the switchboard, according to the ambition of 
the operator. 

Nickel Anodes. — Theoretically it should be possible to 
feed a nickel solution entirely from the anodes. Practically 



274 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

this is impossible in the average shop, although it is uni- 
versally recognized as the cheapest method of adding nickel 
to the solution and skillful platers succeed in doing it for 
several weeks, or even for several months, at a time. Ex- 
haustive studies have been made of the character and com- 
position of the metal and the shapes which are desirable. 
These show that rolled anodes will feed a solution sparingly 
and such a solution must have constant additions of nickel 
salts. Electrolytically deposited nickel anodes were tried 
with the idea of securing a perfectly pure anode, but it was 
found that they also fed the solution poorly, being just the 
reverse of copper. Cast nickel anodes of a fine and close 
texture of metal of great purity were also tried, and while 
better than those previously mentioned, still left much to be 
desired. A rather coarse, porous casting is very easily dis- 
integrated in the solution, particularly if it contains certain 
impurities, such as cobalt, carbon, traces of iron, traces of 
copper, etc. It has been determined by patient investigation 
that this is due to two principal causes ; first, the amount 
of surface open to contact with the solution is enormously 
increased in a coarse casting as compared with the close, 
even texture of rolled metal ; second, the presence of carbon, 
for instance, sets up a local action, the carbon, nickel and 
sulphuric acid forming a battery which decomposes the 
anode by local action, leaving the resulting salts free to be 
seized upon by the current and carried into the' solution. 
This local action and the increased surface, together, oper- 
ating to feed the solution, will give it a greater constancy 
than could be obtained by using purer metal in the anodes. 
For this reason carbon is generally added (or rather left in) 
when casting the anodes. 

It has also been determined that the current, in leaving 
the anodes and passing into the solution, does so far more 
readily from the points and edges of the anode than from the 
middle of a fiat plate ; also that in the corrugated anodes 
illustrated in this, chapter there is a tendency for the corru- 



THE POLISHING AX!) PLATING OF METALS. 



2 75 



gations to wear flat, showing that the metal is eaten away 
more rapidly from the tops of the curves than from the 
bottoms. That this is due to the uneven flow of the current 
and not to any peculiarity of the anode is shown by the 

fact that when a plater is coppering a wide object — a large 
cast iron panel, for instance — if he has trouble in getting 
metal on the center of his work, he removes the wide anodes 
from opposite the center of the work and hangs a number 
of narrow ones in place of them. When this is done more 
metal is thrown on the center of the panel, every time, show- 
ing conclusively that the current is fed to the solution faster 
from the edges than from the center of a wide anode. Fol- 
lowed to its conclusion this would seem to indicate that the 
best anode would be all edges. While this is, of course, an 
absurdity, it is nevertheless true that platers generally have 
been using anodes which have been too wide to secure the 
maximum corrosion with the least expenditure of current in 
a nickel bath, and there is a constant tendency toward the 
use of narrower shapes, in order to feed the solution as 
evenly as possible throughout its entire contents, rather than 
to have streams which are richer in metal flowing from cer- 
tain points. 

There is a secondary advantage in the distribution of cur- 
rent in that more hooks are required to suspend narrow 
anodes and thus the current will flow more easily from the 
anode rod into the solution. We suspect that this may also 
have something to do with the undeniable fact thai narrow 
anodes will feed a solution faster and more evenly than wide 
ones. In copper, silver and other solutions which corrode 
them easily, the shape of the anode is comparatively unim- 
portant, except in special cases. In solutions which must be 
fed with metals in a more expensive form (such as their 
salts), to make up any deficiency of the anodes, the sizes. 
number of connections and shapes of the anodes are well 
worth looking after; and this is particularly the case with 
nickel, on account of its extensive use. 



276 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METAL: 



Figs. 69 and 70 show two forms of anodes with cast 
hooks. While there is some liability of the hooks breaking 
in shipment and handling, they are preferred by many plat- 
ers on account of the fact that when using them no copper 




Fig. 09. 



Fig. 70. 



will get into the nickel solution from the hooks and spoil the 
color of the solution. The connection is also better elec- 
trically than with anodes having eyes for the insertion of 
copper hooks. They are made in any desired shapes and 
sizes. Fig. 70 shows an anode which is corrugated with the 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 27y 

object of introducing a larger surface to the solution in a 
given length of anode rod. It is claimed that they also dis- 
tribute the current more evenly than the flat anodes, as 
shown by those portions of the corrugations which are near- 
est, the work wearing away faster than the hollows on the 
same side of the sheet. Those who have given this anode 
extensive trial pronounce it a very satisfactory product, 
easily cleaned, wearing uniformly and feeding the solution 
freely. They also state that the amount of scrap nickel 
remaining in the hooks is more than compensated for by the 
better electrical connection and the fact that there are no 
copper anode hooks to clean. 

Fig. yi illustrates a new form of anode of elliptical section 
in which the results of the investigations of current distri- 
bution in the plating solution have been taken advantage of 
to produce a shape that will secure the maximum corrosii n 
and even distribution throughout the solution. The new 
anode is elliptical in section and tapers in thickness from 
top to bottom rather more than is customary in the older 
forms of anodes. This is done to prevent cutting off at 
the top in solutions which are worked chiefly on small work 
which does not fill the vat, so that the bulk of the work is 
confined to the upper one-third of the solution. Anodes will 
cut off rapidly in such cases, particularly if the plater 
neglects to stir his solution, and anodes used on such work- 
should be thickened at the top more than where the work is 
racked or strung to occupy the full available depth of the 
solution. Fig. ~\ shows a round hook screwed into the 
anode and having its upper portion flattened. In use this 
Mat portion is bent to exactly fit the curve of ihe rod. s, , as 
to get connection for fully one-half the circumference of die 
rod. In doing this lb' hould see that the Ik ok- have 

nut been bent out of alignment with the anode or the tlat 
portion of the wire will no"1 lie down on the rod for its full 
width, but will stand on one edge and thus greatly reduce 



278 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 




Fig. 71. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 279 

the conductivity of the hook by reducing the surface in con- 
tact. 

While speaking of anodes, another point may be men- 
tioned, which is the custom that many platers have of hang- 
ing a copper wire on the cathode rod to take part of the cur- 
rent when there is too much current for the amount of work 
that is being done. A nickel anode should be used, but 
sometimes the plater has no anode for such a purpose, as he 
is using them all on the other rod in an attempt to drive more 
metal into the solution, or the work may be of such a char- 
acter that there is no room to hang a wide anode on the 
work rod ; so he resorts to copper wires and allows a num- 
ber of them to hang on the work rod here and there between 
the pieces of work. It is usually a large wire and dips into 
the solution about twelve inches. In time these become cov- 
ered with deposited nickel until they are from three-fourths 
to an inch in diameter, when they are taken out and sold as 
scrap nickel at a considerable reduction in price. It is com- 
mon to see the plater make a loss on from one hundred to 
four hundred pounds of nickel in this way, because he does 
not want to run the risk of getting copper in his solution, if 
he tries to run them as anodes. A few nickel wires of a 
size suitable for such uses would cost very little and then 
the plater who uses such means of cutting down his current 
would be able to save all this nickel by simply changing 
them over to the anode rod when they become too large for 
his purpose and running off the deposited nickel with no 
danger of fouling his solution. 

Nickel anodes very seldom require to be removed from 
the solution except those that have become somewhat worn 
from long service. New anodes in a properly balanced so- 
lution may not have to be removed from the solution for six 
months, unless it be to dip and clean the anodes and the 
connecting hooks. There are a few exceptions to this gen- 
eral rule. 

In case the solution becomes too dense in metal, from ad- 



280 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

ding too much sulphate of nickel, the anodes may be covered 
with a deposit of nickel crystals. Then the anodes become 
insulated and little or no deposit will be obtainable. When 
this happens remove the anodes and dip them in boiling 
water until the crystals are dissolved. When the anodes are, 
clean the dissolved salts may be returned to the solution. 
In order +o prevent the recurrence of the trouble the density 
of the solution may be somewhat reduced by the addition of 
water. 

When nickel anodes have been in constant use for a long 
time, it will be found that upon their surfaces they have thick 
lavers of carbon. This is of no value and should be re- 
moved with an old file or scratch brush and the anode thor- 
oughly washed, when it will be found to have become much 
thinner. The cause of this is that in the process of melting 
the nickel for anodes it is mixed with coal or coke and when 
being cast a certain amount of this in the form of carbon 
remains in the metal, as previously explained in speaking of 
the conductivity of anodes. Nickel anodes that are being 
used constantly should be removed from the bath, brushed 
and washed two or three times a week. 

For nickel plating work that has hollows or indentations 
it will be found advisable to use a solution rich in metal, as 
nickel is generally hard to deposit upon the inside of an ar- 
ticle, and of course if made rich in metal it will be a better 
conductor of electricity, but it should never be made rich 
enough to cause a dark deposit, which is sometimes the case. 
For ordinarv work the solution standing from 6° B. to 6^° 
B. is all that is required and any richer solution is only a 
waste of nickel salts. If the plater has an odd job of this 
kind and does not want to change his solution, he may hang 
his work with several hooks or wires so as to bring the 
hollow under the work rod ; then take a narrow anode (very 
small) and wire it with a long wire to the anode rod with a 
rubber tube two inches long, slit up one side, slipped over the 
cathode rod; then he may drop this small anode into the 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 2S1 

hollow object (taking care not to get it too close) and hold 
it in position by bending- the wire so as to hang the anode 
from the work rod, as the rubber will insulate the anode 
from the work rod. A little ingenuity along these lines in 
handling work will frequently save hours of trouble and vex- 
ation. 



CHAPTER XL 

COPPER SOLUTIONS. 

The copper solution is one of the most common and also 
one of the most useful and easiest to handle. Every plating 
establishment, great or small, has its copper solution for one 
purpose or another. Some for copper plating iron and steel 
preparatory to nickeling; others for coppering work pre- 
paratory to oxidizing or lacquering as the final finish. So, 
as it has many and varied uses, is inexpensive and easily 
handled, it is found either in. a large or small quantity in 
every plating shop in the country. 

Copper solutions, being composed of but one metal, are 
comparatively easy to make and to work. If the solution 
contains too much free cyanide, the work will plate brittle, 
blister easily and the deposit will be thin; if there is a large 
excess of free cyanide the solution will work vigorously, 
giving off considerable gas at the cathode, but the cathode 
receives no deposit. The remedy for this is the addition of 
carbonate of copper, which will reduce the proportion of free 
cyanide, or if the solution has a sufficient quantity of copper, 
remove some of the solution and fill up the vat with water 
to reduce its density. 

If there is too much copper in the solution, the anodes will 
become coated and finally refuse to deposit. In that case the 
anodes should be removed and cleaned and more cyanide ad- 
ded to the solution. When the solution is in a proper con- 
dition the anodes, when in use, will be covered with a thin 
oxide which, however, is soon dissolved and the anodes be- 
come bright when the solution is at rest. 

282 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 2S3 

Copper solutions for ordinary work plated upon wires 
should stand 8° B. to 12° B. on the hydrometer, while those 
being used for basket work should be of a greater density, 
usually from io° 15. to 15 B. 

Some platers prefer to have their copper 1 solutions stand 
from 16 to 20 B. : in such solutions the current is usually 
cut down very low and the work plated slowly to prevent 
burning or blistering. A copper solution very rich in metal 
and cyanide is more apt to blister in plating if allowed to 
remain too long in the solution, especially is this so if there is 
a large excess of cyanide. 

Carbonate of copper and cyanide of potash in proper quan- 
tities must be added from time to time to feed the solution, 
according to the amount of work being plated. In adding 
large quantities of copper and cyanide to solutions of copper, 
after stirring, a thick Brown scum will be formed upon the 
surface of the solution which should be removed before pro- 
ceding to plate. 

Water 1 gal. 

C. P. cyanide of potash ' 2 lb. 

Carbonate of copper 6 oz. 

Carbonate of soda 3 oz. 

Copper solution for basket work: 

Water I gal. 

C. P. cyanide of potash i 11). 

Carbonate of copper 10 oz. 

Hyposulphite of soda i oz. 

Small quantities of hyposulphite of soda dissolved in water 
and added to any copper solution will immediately remove 
thai brown Scum which so often forms upon the object being 
plan'!. 

Copper plated g Is, upon being removed from the bath, 

should be rinsed in water, then dipped for a minute or two 
into a solution composed of one part sulphuric acid to fifty 



28| THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

parts of water, before being dried in hot water and sawdust. 
This will kill the cyanide in the pores of the plate and pre- 
vent to a considerable extent spotted and tarnished copper 
plated goods, as this defect is most frequently caused by a 
failure to remove all the cyanide from the article before dry- 
ing. 

Duplex or Acid Copper. — The acid copper solution has 
been in use for many years in the electrotyping trade, but 
until recently it was not considered of much importance to 
the electroplater. As the great amount of work required to 
be plated from year to year steadily increased and methods 
were discovered for doing cheaper and better work, the great 
value of the acid copper solution was finally recognized by 
the electroplater, particularly as an aid to good nickel plat- 
ing, and also as a means of reducing the time and cost of pol- 
ishing iron and steel goods, to say nothing of its value as a 
coppering solution for plating articles which are to be oxi- 
dized or finished in the copper plate itself. In a great many 
shops the acid copper has almost entirely replaced the cyan- 
ide of copper solution. In the first place it is very much 
cheaper than cyanide solution, costing not more than one- 
fifth as much. It will deposit ten times the amount of cop- 
per in a given time with less current than the cyanide of 
copper. The plate is not so liable to peel, nor is it so easily 
cut through when in the process of burring, as it is thicker. 
It is a time saver, as a heavy deposit may be obtained in a 
short time, while very little current is required. 

The great and only drawback to the use of this solution is 
the fact that it will not plate directly upon iron, steel or zinc, 
as these metals, upon coming in contact with the acid in the 
solution, are immediately attacked and decomposed. To 
overcome this difficulty, it is necessary to first plate all iron, 
steel or zinc goods either in the cyanide of copper or in the 
nickel solution, just giving them sufficient plate to protect 
the metal from the corrosive action of the acid in the acid 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 2S5 

copper solution. Then they may be rinsed off in cold water 
and hung intc the acid copper. 

Blow holes or flaws in eastings should he tilled with solder 
to prevent the acid solution from entering Mich places and 
attacking the metal. Pieces with holes in them or hollow- 
castings should he filled with water and corked up when 
possible, or the cavities filled with resin or wax to prevent 
the entrance of the acid copper solution. It is seldom neces- 
sary to run the work for more than fifteen to twenty minutes 
in this solution, a very heavy deposit with a weak current 
being obtained in that length of time. The acid copper solu- 
tion has been a great boon to large manufacturers of bi- 
cycles, stoves and other articles requiring a good, substantial 
deposit of nickel. Iron and steel work that before the use 
of acid copper in the plating room, had to be run over four 
or five wheels in the polishing room, to get the desired fin- 
ish, now may be finished on two to three wheels. Where 
the work required a finishing wheel of flour emery after the 
120 or 150 emerv wheel, now it may be finished upon a 120 
or 150 grease wheel. The reason for this is that the copper 
can be deposited so heavily upon the polished iron or steel 
work that in the process of buffing it may in a measure be 
polished down into the lines or scratches left by the grease 
wheel. Then those lines or scratches that may still remain 
are so highly polished that, after receiving a heavy deposit 
of nickel upon the copper and then being buffed again, the 
scratches cannot be detected. This process would be utterly 
impossible when using the cyanide of copper solution, be- 
cause the deposit could not be put on sufficiently heavy to 
stand buffing down enough to hide any defects in polishing. 
Furthermore, the heavy copper deposit makes a better sur- 
face upon which to deposit the nickel, at the same time pro- 
tecting the article from rusting and thereby increasing its 
usefulness. 

To .Make the Solution. — The usual formula for acid 
copper is as follows: First fill the vat which is to contain 



286 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

the solution one-half full of water, as free from lime as pos- 
sible. Then dissolve blue vitriol in hot water, by using the 
steam pipe in a jar as described for nickel, or by boiling. 
The plater must not use any iron, tin or zinc vessel in con- 
nection with this solution, as it will readily destroy any- 
thing of that nature. Add the hot sulphate of copper solu- 
tion to the water in the plating tank until the solution in the 
vat stands at 15 B. Then if the solution is to the desired 
height in the vat, add sulphuric acid slowly and with stirring 
until it stands 20 B. The solution, when thoroughly cool, 
is ready for use. Use pure copper anodes in this solution, 
either cast or rolled. 

The same solution, but of less density, is as follows: Make 
the solution of sulphate of copper so that it stands at 12 B. 
Then add sulphuric acid until it stands at 15 B. The use 
of sulphuric acid in these solutions is to give them greater 
conductivity ; at the same time the excess of free sulphuric 
acid tends to produce a fine-grained deposit which would not 
be obtainable without the free acid. 

The size of the tub used to contain the acid copper solu- 
tion has considerable bearing on just what the proportions 
of that solution should be. For instance, a solution stand- 
ing from 1 5 B. to 18 B. will give satisfactory results in 
large vats where the volume of solution is considerable and 
the distance from anode to cathode is from eight to ten 
inches. But if used in small quantities in a smaller and 
narrow vat, where the work is close to the anode, a solution 
of much less density will give better results. The formulae 
first given are suitable for electrotyping. 

The formula in most general use for electroplating con- 
sists of a solution made to stand about 13 B. by adding sul- 
phate of copper and then bringing it up to 15 B. by the 
addition of sulphuric acid. These proportions may be va- 
ried a little, according to the size of the vat, amount of solu- 
tion and class of work to be handled. It is better to have 
the acid copper too low in metal, rather than too dense. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 287 

Care must be taken in using this solution not to use an 
excess of current. It being a very dense solution and .111 
excellent conductor of electricity, much less current is nec- 
1 ssary to accomplish the same amount of work than with any 
other solution. 

There should never be an evolution of hydrogen from 
the work when being plated in the acid copper bath. If 
this occurs, you will know that your work is burning, in 
which case it will take on a brown color and crumble from 
the work, or be easily brushed off. Gas may arise from 
the solution if iron, steel or zinc is being plated, if they 
have not been properly coated before going into the acid 
copper, either in the cyanide copper or in the nickel solution. 
In this case the solution readily attacks the iron, steel or 
zinc and such work must be immediately removed from the 
solution. Too much stress can hardly be laid upon this 
point, that all articles of iron, steel or zinc must be thor- 
oughly coated in either cyanide copper or nickel solution 
before going into the acid copper bath. In castings that 
are porous, or have sand holes, the holes should be filled 
with soft solder before plating. 

This solution, properly handled on certain classes of work, 
will be found the best and most economical. Due precau- 
tion should be taken in selecting a vat or tank for the acid 
copper bath. If any great amount of solution is to be used, 
say 200 gallons or over, the tank should be made of well 
seasoned lumber, not less than two inches thick, well bolted 
at the ends and along the bottom and then properly lined 
with cheese cloth and asphaltum. The reason for this extra 
precaution is that this solution, being very heavy, is liable 
to bulge or spring the sides of a large tub if not properly 
bolted and braced. 

Simple Immersion Coppering. — A very cheap copper 
plate may be deposited upon iron or steel objects by first 
cleansing them bv dipping into or brushing with a strong 



288 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

solution of hot sal soda (caustic soda). When clean give a 
quick dip, moving about constantly, into a solution of sul- 
phate of copper and sulphuric acid about as follows : 

Sulphate of copper i}/ 2 cz. 

Sulphuric acid i oz. 

Water 5 qts. 

The article, if left in the solution after the film or plate 
of copper is formed, is iiable to redissolve, or peel off, so it 
should be removed quickly, rinsed in plenty of cold and then 
in hot water and dried. 

This process is much in use upon small iron novelties and 
cheap hardware, such as furniture casters, transom lifts, 
window locks and other such goods of the cheaper grade. 
Upon articles too large or of a shape that prevents dipping, 
the copper may be deposited by first cleaning the article with 
a brush dipped into the hot soda solution, then brushing the 
object to be coppered, then use another brush and apply the 
copper solution in the same manner, brushing evenly and 
only once in a place, as if brushed repeatedly the deposit 
will not adhere well. 

Another way of coating small iron or steel objects with 
the copper film without the use of the electric current, or 
even the trouble of preparing the above formula, is to wire 
them or place in a basket and cleanse in the usual manner 
by potashing, then immerse for a moment in an old acid 
bright dip ; one that has been long in use is preferable, as it 
is saturated with copper salts. The moment the iron or steel 
objects come in contact with this solution they receive, a 
bright deposit of copper which should be quickly removed, 
rinsed and dried as before. 



CHAPTER XII. 

BRASS PLATING. 

Brass plating is perhaps the most difficult branch of the 
line of plating. This is due mostly to the fact that two 
metals are used in combination in the solution. It is often 
very hard to get them together in the solution in just the 
right quantities to produce the exact shade of deposit re- 
quired. Furthermore many platers insist upon putting this, 
that or the other thing in their brass solutions without being 
able to give any suitable reason why they do it. 

It has been noticed by the writer that cyanide seems to be 
the cure-all among platers, especially when they do not 
know what the trouble is. They resort to cyanide if the 
work peels, is too dark, too light, muddy, or gray, is spotted 
or streaked, or does not plate fast enough. The inexpe- 
rienced operator, not knowing the cause of any particular 
trouble, usually attempts to remedy it by the free use of 
cyanide, which at best is only guess work, and nine times 
out of ten, only makes matters worse. It is more difficult 
to lay down exact and permanent formulae for brass plating 
than any other solution, on account of the solution being 
composed of two metals of different electrical conductivity, 
A solution that would give satisfactory results upon small 
steel or iron goods would very likely be useless upon large 
castings of iron or zinc, while a solution capable of giving the 
required results upon large castings would be of no value 
upon basket work, such as small novelty goods, screws, nails. 
rivets and other small work usually handled in baskets. With 
brass solutions more than any other the class of work to be 

2S9 



2QO THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

handled, the anodes, the composition of the solution, the 
amount of current to be used, the distance of the cathode 
from the anode, must all be taken into consideration and 
are important factors in getting the best results upon the 
different classes of work. The best solutions are those 
which will give the desired results and be the easiest to keep 
in condition to give uniform results. It has been proven of 
late years that the solutions best adapted to comply with 
these conditions are those which are of the most simple con- 
struction. Having only the absolutely necessary ingredients 
in them, they consequently are much easier to handle and 
keep in order than those having many more elements, some 
of which are useless. Platers use much that is of no value 
to them in preparing these solutions, because the book says 
so, not knowing the reason why they should be in the for- 
mula. 

A great many solutions recommended for brass plating 
are obsolete and should not be given book space. Many of 
them were used twenty-five or thirty years ago when brass 
plating was not very successful in a commercial way, and 
these old recipes have been passed along from one writer 
to another without anybody giving them a practical dem- 
onstration to see whether they were of real value or not. 
Knowing this to be a fact, not only with brass solutions, 
but with others also, it will be the aim in this book not to 
print anything that we do not know will do what is claimed 
for it. Those things which the writer does not know from 
his own knowledge and experience will be secured from 
practical platers in that particular line, or failing in this, ex- 
periment will be made and all formulae given practical 
working tests where any doubt exists as to their value and 
efficiency. 

The causes of trouble in brass plating are numerous. In 
the first place when the solution has been prepared so that 
the work is coming from it with the desired color, it is 
wise to use the solution every day. Hven if there is no work 



THE POLISHING .AND PLATING OF METALS. 29 1 

at hand that requires brass plating, some pieces of metal 
should be hung in and run for an hour or two each day, 
because when the solution is left standing idle for a day or 

two, or a few days at most, the metals suspended in the solu- 
tion become separated owing to the difference in their spe- 
cific gravity. Then the next time ii is wanted for use, per- 
haps in a hurry, it will usually lie found to plate spotted 
or streaked, or perhaps it will plate all zinc or nearly all 
copper; sometimes it requires considerable labor and skill 
to remedy the evil. It may be set right in a few minutes, 
or it may take hours ; lint if the solution is run or electrolized 
for an hour or two each day and then given a thorough 
stirring up at night, this particular form of trouble may 
be averted. 

It is a good practice to stir up the brass solution thor- 
oughly from the bottom at the close of each day's work, 
whether in actual use or not; this helps to keep the metals 
in solution well mixed or amalgamated and tends to pro- 
duce uniform results. 

Free cyanide in any solution is that portion over and 
above the amount which is required to dissolve and keep 
the metals suspended in the solution. Too much free cya- 
nide in brass solutions is very troublesome where a good, 
heavy deposit is required which must stand buffing. An 
excess of cyanide greatly increases the conductivity and 
causes the work to bo plated so rapidly that the deposil is 
usually hard, brittle and blisters or peels up of its own 
accord long before the required thickness is deposited. It 
also tends to make the deposit of a pale, insipid color. The 
remedy for this, in case it is not desirable to add any more 
copper or zinc carbonate to the solution, is to dip out a 
quantity of the solution, replacing it with water and mix 
it up well. This will usually give satisfactory results. But 
if more carbonate may be added without injuring the color 
of the deposit, this will reduce the excessive proportion of 
free cyanide of potash, but will also increase the specific 



292 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

gravity of the solution. When there is too much free cya- 
nide in the brass solution it may be easily detected by a 
number of indications. First, the anodes will remain bright, 
or partly so, when plating, which they should not do ; then 
the action of the solution about the work will be greatly in- 
creased, also the amount of gas given off by the work being 
plated is beyond the normal and usually forms a thick scum 
over the solution. If the free cyanide is greatly in excess, 
the action of the solution will be greatly increased, yet the 
work to be plated will receive no deposit whatever. 

When there is a lack of free cyanide in the solution, it 
will be noticed that the solution works slowly ; the anodes 
become coated with an oxide or scum which finally entirely 
covers over or insulates the anode, making it a noncon- 
ductor ; then all action or deposit ceases. The remedy for 
this is the addition to the solution of cyanide of potash in 
small quantities, with stirring, until the work will plate 
steadily and the action of the solution is uniform. There 
are times when it would not be desirable to add cyanide, as, 
for example, when the color is just what is required, there 
may be danger of altering it by the addition of cyanide. 
In this case the anodes must be removed from the solution, 
one at a time and cleaned by dipping in hot potash and 
brushing with a stiff brush to remove the scum. This will 
immediately increase the action of the solution. After it 
has been run for a time, the surplus metal will be reduced 
and the cleaning of the anodes will not be necessary. In a 
properly balanced solution the anodes should slowly turn 
bright in the solution when not in use. 

Cast brass anodes are the best for plating, as the metal is 
usually softer and more easily deposited than rolled brass. 
The cast anodes may easily be had of the same color as 
the deposit required, which is quite an advantage. The 
hooks for brass anodes should be made of heavy copper wire 
the same sizes of the holes in the ears of the anodes, so that 
they may be driven in snugly and riveted, thus insuring a 



THE POLISHING AM) PLATING OF METALS. 293 

perfect electrical connection which will not be interfered 
with when the anodes corrode about the hooks at the surface 
of the solution. If sheet brass anodes are used they should 
be annealed to soften them. The anodes should be of 
good size, reaching nearly to the bottom of the vat, and 
there must always be anode surface equal to or in excess 
of the surface of the work which is being plated. 

The distance of the cathode from the anode is an impor- 
tant factor in brass plating. The most uniform results are 
obtained upon ordinary work at a distance of six to eight 
inches. A shorter distance, say. from three to four inches, 
may make the deposit too light in color and brittle, while 
the distance of ten to twelve inches might make the deposit 
too dark, or even red. at the same time plating slowly on 
account of the increased distance and consequently increased 
resistance of the solution, which cuts down the effective 
amount of current. 

The manipulation of the electric current is one of the most 
important things to be considered in connection with brass 
plating, as all the shades from a rich bronze to a light brass 
mav be obtained from the brass solution by the regulation 
of the current. Brass solutions usually require considerable 
current to get the lighter shades, as more zinc than copper 
is deposited from the solution with a strong current. As 
the current is reduced, more copper is deposited, until the 
shade of the deposit will gradually run into a bronze color. 
All these things, of course, depend somewhat upon the class 
of work being done, the condition of the solution and, most 
of all. upon the skill of the operator. Xo positive rules can 
be laid down for the management of brass solutions. The 
reader will glean what he can from these general statements 
applying to brass solutions and apply them to his particu- 
lar class of work. 

The ingredients for making brass -< >1 n t i < >i 1 s ma\ lie pur- 
chased from any reliable dealer in plating supplies, but it is 
well to know how to prepare the chemicals in most common 



294 TIIE polishing AND plating of metals. 

use, as they may be wanted in a hurry, and then you know 
just what you have if you make it yourself, 

To Make Carbonate of Copper. — Take sulphate of cop- 
per (blue vitriol) to the required amount, weigh it and dis- 
solve it in a wooden pail or a crock, with hot water and 
stirring. Then pour the liquid into a large and deep crock, 
not allowing any undissolved vitriol to get into the larger 
crock. Dissolve in hot water in another vessel about two 
pounds of carbonate of soda (sal soda, or washing soda) 
for every pound of vitriol previously dissolved. Add the 
soda solution to the vitriol solution in the high crock. Do 
this slowly, with stirring, so as to allow the carbonic acid 
gas to escape. If too much soda solution is added to the 
vitriol at once the large quantities of gas suddenly liberated 
will cause the liquid to boil over, thus wasting the copper. 
When the chemical action ceases, after stirring up well, do 
not add any more soda solution, but fill up with hot water 
the crock containing the copper, which is now carbonate, and 
allow it to settle. Then pour or syphon off the clear liquid, 
which is sulphate of soda and is of no value. Fill up the 
crock containing the carbonate with hot water, stir, allow 
to settle, pour off and repeat the washing until no taste of 
soda is apparent in the water by wetting the end of the 
finger and placing it on the tongue. The last washings 
should be of clean, cold water. When the carbonate is 
washed clean it is ready for use, but that portion which is 
not required for immediate use should be kept in a wide 
mouthed bottle with water over it to prevent it from drying 
out, as if it is allowed to get dry it is hard to dissolve. 

Carbonate of Zinc. — This is made in exactly the same 
way, from sulphate of zinc. Usually not so much carbonate 
of zinc is made at a time, as much less z : nc is used in brass 
or bronze solutions than of copper. 

Preparation of the Work. — It will be found advan- 
tageous to give iron and steel work a dip in a solution com- 



THE POLISHING AM) PI. .VI IN mi; I. M.S. 



: 95 



posed of one quart of muriatic acid to three gallons of water. 
after the work has been scoured and cleaned in the regula- 
tion way with a brush and powdered pumice stone, using a 
little cyanide of potash solution on the brush, which makes 
the removal of grease much easier. Then, instead of using 
the cyanide dip as the last dip before hanging into the plat- 
ing bath, rinse the work, dip in the acid solution above given, 
then rinse agair. and hang in the plating bath. This will 
leave the metal in an adhesive condition, insuring a better 
and finer deposit than will be possible when using the cyan- 
ide dip as the finishing dip. 

Brass Solution. — Contrary to the usual method of 
writers upon plating, I propose to give first a simple method 
of preparing a brass solution in a practical way which I 
have always found to give immediate and satisfactory re- 
sults without following any given formula. The plan is 
simply this : Make up your copper solution in the vat which 
is to contain the brass bath, not using too much carbonate, 
but enough to give a nice, clear and uniform deposit of cop- 
per. Proceed by first filling the vat half full of water; then 
add C. P. cyanide one-half pound to each gallon of solution 
which the vat will contain when it is filled to within six or 
eight inches of the top. When this is done, add the carbon- 
ate of copper, which should be previously mixed up in a 
jar with water in the form of a paste ; add this to the cyan- 
ide solution with stirring. See that the copper carbonate is 
all dissolved in the clear solution, which is readily accom- 
plished by stirring. When the cyanide has taken up all the 
copper it can, the clear solution will begin to take on a 
greenish look. Cease adding the copper at once and stir 
up vigorously; then add enough cyanide to clear un the 
solution and leave a little in excess which is called free cyan- 
ide. Xext dissolve ten pounds of carbonate "i -"da for each 
one hundred gallons oi copper solution and add t<i the solu- 
tion in the vat. Stir up well and let it settle for a few hours. 



296 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

This solution should be transparent and almost colorless, 
with no sediment at the bottom ; this is the regulation copper 
solution. Next connect up the vat with the dynamo, hang 
in your brass anodes and run the solution for a short time 
with a vigorous current, hanging on the work rod anything 
that is large enough to pass current freely. 

Next make a solution in a jar, from carbonate of zinc and 
C. P. cyanide, adding all the zinc the cyanide will take up, 
but no more. Usually one-half the amount of zinc chloride 
is used as of copper chloride. When this zinc solution is 
prepared, hang in the copper solution the class of work 
which is to be brassed, or some similar work, for the pur- 
pose of working the bath. Now proceed to add the clear 
zinc solution to the copper solution, stirring up well from 
the bottom, while the solution is being worked with an or- 
dinary current of about the proper force to run the bath 
when plating actual work. The deposit on the work should 
be watched closely. It will soon begin to change from cop- 
per to bronze, then into the lighter shades of bronze. The 
addition of zinc solution should now cease for the time 
being. Add one-half gallon of ammonia to each one hun- 
dred gallons of solution and stir up well. The ammonia 
helps to amalgamate the two metals and brings out the 
bright color so much desired. After adding the ammonia 
the solution should be run for some time and the current 
manipulated to get the desired shade. Do not add more zinc 
until you find it necessary. Very often a brass solution 
plating a light bronze color will gradually run into the shade 
desired by adding ammonia, working for a time and manipu- 
lating the current, whereas, if a little too much zinc is added, 
the solution very often changes suddenly and plates almost 
pure zinc, causing considerable trouble to get it back again. 
Too much care cannot be used in adding the zinc solution 
after the color of the deposit begins to change. Very often 
new brass baths as well as old ones plate uneven and 
streaked instead of having a uniform color. When the 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 297 

usual remedies have been tried and failed a vigorous boiling 
of the solution with a live steam pipe, afterwards allowing 
the solution to eool and settle over night, will usually he 
found to remedy the difficulty. If the brass bath be u>vA 
while hot. a pure copper deposit will usually be < btained, 
running- into the lighter shades of bronze and finally into 
brass as the solution becomes cold. This boiling process will 
evaporate considerable of the ammonia in the solution, so 
that it may be desirable to add more when the solution cools 
off, in order to bring the desired shade. The addition of 
ammonia to the brass bath has no detrimental effect. 

BRASS SOI.UTIOX. 

C. P. cyanide of potash 1 lb. 

Carbonate of copper 6 oz. 

Carbonate of zinc 3 oz. 

Carbonate of soda . 2 oz. 

Ammonia 3 oz. 

Water 1 gal. 

Macerate the copper and zinc carbonates in one-half the 
water, pulverizing- all lumps ; then add the cyanide, which 
should form a clear straw-colored liquid. 1 f the carbonates 
are not all taken up in the clear solution and settle to the 
bottom, add cyanide slowly, with stirring, until the solution 
is clear. Dissolve the carbonate of soda in one-half gallon 
of hot water and add it to the first solution. Stir up well 
and boil it. When cool, add the ammonia, stir up. ami it 
will be ready for use. 

Ammonia should be added to this solution from time to 
time, when in constant use-, or when bring used only occa- 
sionally, as it evaporates quickly. 

The next is the brass solution containing arsenious acid. 
This was one of the first solutions in practical use. and is 
used to-day by the old school of platers who insist upon 
sticking to the old way of doing things whether the) pos 
any real merit or not The onl) objection to tin- use ol 
arsenic in any form for the brass bath is that it makes that 



29S THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

solution very erratic and hard to control, while ammonia 
seems to give all the beneficial results obtained by arsenic 
(which is simply to obtain a bright deposit) while it pro- 
duces none of the detrimental features of the arsenic. Feed- 
ing arsenic to the brass bath is a good deal like feeding this 
and certain other drugs to the human system. Once started 
it must be kept up and the quantity gradually increased as 
the system or the solution becomes accustomed to it. An 
overdose of arsenic in the brass bath causes a whitish, pale 
deposit which is usually hard to rectify. 

Water 6 qts. 

C. P. cyanide of potash 18 oz. 

Carbonate of copper 4 oz. 

Carbonate of zinc 3 oz. 

Carbonate of soda 2 oz. 

Arsenious acid ^2 dwt. 

Prepare the solution like the previous one, adding the 
arsenious acid last. 

Water 3 gal. 

C. P. cyanide of potash. 2J/2 lbs. 

Carbonate of copper 1 lb. 

Carbonate of zinc l / 2 lb. 

Caustic potash 1 lb. 

Add the caustic potash last. The addition of caustic pot- 
ash in the place of carbonate of soda seems to increase the 
conductivity of the solution while it answers the same pur- 
pose as the* carbonate of soda in bringing out a bright de- 
posit. 

Brass solutions for ordinary work, such as iron or steel 
stampings or castings, or any work to be wired upon copper 
wires, should never stand over 15 B. While a bath at io° 
B. to 12 B. usually gives the best results, a solution of 
greater density usually plates brittle and peels up readily. 

Solutions intended for small work in baskets, such as trim- 
mings, screws and other small work, should stand from 12 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 299 

B. to 20° B. For this class of work the solution is required 
to be of greater density, being rich in both metal and cyanide, 
as the circulation of the solution about the work in the bas- 
kets is not so free; also a greater volume of current is re- 
quired when handling work in baskets. 

Better results may be obtained in brass plating by first 
copper plating the articles to be brassed. They should also 
be buffed bright before going into the brass bath, if it is 
work requiring a polished brass finish. By so doing, it 
makes a more durable job with little or no expense, as the 
coppered article will not require such a heavy deposit of 
brass as it would without the preparatory coat of copper and 
will finish up better and much quicker. 

Brass solutions that are in constant use need frequent 
addition of the proper salts and also cyanide of potash from 
time to time. Those being; used continually for basket work 
require the addition of the different salts oftener than the 
ordinary solutions used upon work that is plated upon cop- 
per slinging wires. 

Brass Anodes. — It is not necessary to remove the anodes 
from the brass or bronze solution, except for the purpose of 
cleaning. The}- are allowed to remain in the solution con- 
tinually without any detrimental effect either to the anodes 
or the solution. It would be considerable inconvenience to 
remove them, as they would readily become covered with a 
film of oxide if left exposed to the action of the air, while 
if left in the solution, they remain bright and clean if the 
solution be in a normal condition. 

In making up plating solutions of any kind, especially 
those where ail the chemicals are purchased and nol pre- 
pared by the operator himself, due allowance must always 
be made for impurities and loss of strength of the chemicals 
from being exposed to the air or from age. For instance, 
qarbonate of copper maj contain sulphuric acid 1>\ nol using 
sufficient sal soda to neutralize all the acid contained in the 



300 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

sulphate of copper when preparing the carbonate. Again 
the carbonate may contain considerable sal soda from the 
lack of thorough washing in the preparation of the carbon- 
ate. The same may happen with zinc. In these days of 
keen competition improved methods of manufacture and 
sharp business methods unless one is able to distinguish for 
himself the difference between the pure and the impure 
chemicals he will find very often the given quantities laid 
down in a formula may fail utterly to give the desired re- 
sult, whereupon the blame is usually at once laid upon the 
shoulders of the writer of the formula when, as a matter of 
fact, it is the fault of the chemicals. 

Especially is this true in the manufacture of cyanide of 
potassium. The price has become so low from competition 
or otherwise that little true cyanide of potassium is obtain- 
able, the bulk of the commercial article being cyanide of 
soda, which lacks certain well known characteristics of the 
true cyanide of potassium, hence more must be used and it 
must be added oftener to obtain the desired results. All 
these things must not be lost sight of in preparing solutions. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

BRONZE SOLUTIONS. 

Considerable that has been said in regard to brass solu- 
tions applies also to bronze solutions in a modified form. 
Bronze being a composition of copper and tin, it would nat- 
urally follow that a bronze solution should be composed of 
the same metals. They may be and are. but do not give the 
best results. Brass being a composition of copper and zinc, 
so brass solutions are composed of copper and zinc salts, 
and also the bronze, or, more strictly speaking, the low brass 
solution which is in common use to-day and passes for 
bronze, as it gets the results. Bronze solutions are not near- 
ly so difficult to handle as are brass solutions, for the reason 
that copper, being the predominating metal, is more easily 
controlled than where the two metals are used in more 
equal quantities. Still there being two metals present in the 
solution, it is somewhat difficult in making up the solution 
to get the desired color; but once obtained it is far easier 
to maintain a uniform color than with brass. 

In handling solutions of mixed metals, great care and 
skill is necessary in plating large quantities of work of the 
same kind, or belonging to the same job. where the same 
co'or is required throughout. 

Some writers give several formulae for bronze plating, 
composed of the different copper and tin salts as the prin- 
cipal ingredients. After giving the formulae and dwelling 
for some length upon their properties and construction they 
wind up with the statement that the formulae upon being 
tried were found to be worthless, or at best gave very unsat- 
isfactorv results. I fail to see the wisdom of printing a 
thing, only to condemn it. 



302 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

Bronze solutions should be prepared as described in the 
first solution for brass plating", by running the work and 
adding the solution of carbonate of zinc and cyanide in very 
small portions and very slowly until the desired results are 
obtained. Cast bronze anodes should be used ; then, by reg- 
ulating the current by means of the rheostat, or switchboard 
(with which each vat should be supplied), the color may be 
regulated to any shade desired, from a very dark bronze, or 
copper color, to the lightest shades of bronze, sometimes 
(with intense current) running into brass. 

BRONZE SOLUTION. 

Water I gal. 

C. P. Cyanide of Potash 8 oz. 

Carbonate of Copper 4 oz. 

Carbonate of Zinc 1 oz. 

Carbonate of Soda 2 oz| 

To be made up in the same manner as brass solution. 

Water lYz gal. 

C. P. Cyanide of Potash 10 oz. 

Carbonate of Copper 6 oz. 

Carbonate of Zinc 2 oz. 

Liquid Ammonia (FFFF) y' 2 pt. 

Ammonia may be added to this solution as the occasion re- 
quires, but not in such large quantities as to the brass solu- 
tion. 

Bronze and brass plated goods, especially in builders' 
hardware, where heavy deposits are required, may be re- 
moved from the solution and scratch brushed upon brass 
wire scratch brushes, then given another plate. Or the 
goods may be scratch brushed before buffing, which will 
remove the scum from the plated work, giving a smoother 
and firmer surface to receive the polish. When this is 
done so much of the plate will not be removed bv the buffing 
process as when the goods are not first scratch brushed. 



THE POLISHING AND PLHTING OF METALS. 303 

Bronze solution used to plate large quantities of work- 
requiring' a heavy deposit, also solutions for baskel use, may 
be somewhat richer in metal and cyanide, as follows: 

Water 1 gal. 

C. P. Cyanide \\A lb. 

Carbonate of Copper £4 lb. 

Carbonate of Zinc 3 oz. 

Bronze solution using tin instead of zinc : 

Water 1 gal. 

C. P. Cyanide 1 lb. 

Carbonate of Copper 10 oz. 

Carbonate of Tin 2 oz. 

Liquid Ammonia 4 oz. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

ROLLING BARRELS FOR POLISHING. 

Small goods of uniform shape and size are usually rolled 
up in a metal or wooden barrel or keg, running at an angle 
of about forty-rive degrees and from one hundred to one 
hundred and fifty revolutions per minute. A handful of 
soap powder should be thrown on the work being rolled, 
with enough water to make a good lather, which will both 
clean and polish the small articles. When sufficiently pol- 
ished they are clipped out into the plating baskets, rinsed in 
water, then potashed, rinsed again and are ready for the 
copper or brass bath. The plated goods may be further pol- 
ished by rolling up in a horizontal barrel filled with sawdust 
or leather scraps. This will give a polish equal to buffing, 
but care must be taken not to roll the goods too long and to 
keep the barrel full, otherwise the plate will be easily worn 
from the edges. From ten to fifteen minutes is usually long 
enough to polish after plating, according to the thickness of 
deposit and the brightness of polish required. 

Plating by the Rolling Basket Process. — This is a 
process somewhat new in the electroplating business. It is 
not adapted to all classes of work, but upon work suitable 
for the process it gives very satisfactory results as to the 
amount of work that can be handled in a given time, the 
cheapness of plating goods in this way and the appearance of 
the goods when finished. The work usually plated in this 
way, of course, is generally the cheaper grades of goods and 
something not requiring a heavy plate, but one presenting 
a good appearance for the time being. The metals most 
suitable for this process are white metal, brittania of differ- 

3°4 



TIIF. POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



305 



ent grades, hard or soft, zinc, steel and iron. All sort- of 
novelties arc cast by automatic machines from a composition 
composed mostly of lead, such as collar buttons, cuff buttons, 
small animal-, toys, etc. Also screws, rivets and washers 
made from iron and steel. Harness buckles, suspender 
buckles and many other small metal articles may be handled 




Fig. 



in very large quantities in this way, doing away entirely 
with all wiring, hand cleaning and othei ; try operations 

that require valuable time with the ordinary way of plating. 
With this process properly working a man and one helper 
could plate more work in one day than they could possibly 
plate in a week by the ordinary methods. 



3° 6 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



The work is handled as follows: If dirty or greasy it 
should he rolled up in the rolling' barrel with soap powder. 
(See rolling- barrel.) After cleaning it should be thoroughly 
rinsed, when it is ready for the revolving plating basket or 




Fig. 73 



tub. (See cut.) New work, such as small castings, may need 
no preparatory cleaning, but may have to be rolled some time, 
if rough,, in sawdust or leather scraps to remove burrs and 
roughness. This work is usually handled in wooden pails. 
Tin or galvanized iron will not do, as the strong cyanide 
solutions readily attacks the zinc or tin and causes the work 
to be discolored. One ordinary pailful usually constitutes a 
batch, though more may be put in, depending upon the size 
of the basket. The baskets, of which we give illustrations, 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OI-" MITAI.v 



3°7 



are in everyday use in Chicago by a man who ha? 
made a specialty of this kind of plating, has had several 
years of experience with it and has been eminently ucc< 




Fig. 74. A, wires in basket ; B, trunnion; C, door; I), Anodes; F,, tank 
rod for current entering solution ; P, return r< ><1 to dynamo, 



ful. He prefers them of rather small size, as they are eco- 
nomical in regard to space, easily handled and require less 
power to operate the basket. In the latest approved method 
as illustrated in Fig. 74 it will be seen that there are six 
baskets revolving in one tank. The advantages of this 
method over the separate or independent tubs are many. 



308 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS 

First, you only have one solution to keep up. Then the one 
large tank will not require as much space as several small 
ones will. One basket or all six may be operated at once, 
just as desired. One basket may be loaded up and started 
plating ; then the others, one after another. By the time the 
last one is in the first is nearly ready to come out. 

The solutions in most common use in the basket process 
are copper and nickel. The goods to be nickeled are cop- 
pered first. When they have been sufficiently plated and 
burnished by the continual revolving, so that they present a 
lustrous, bright copper appearance, they are removed from 
the copper basket, thoroughly rinsed off in cold water and 
then placed in the nickel basket. 

These baskets have a door or lid in one end, through which 
they are loaded, standing the basket on one end and pouring 
the work in through a large funnel made for the purpose. 
Then the door is locked and the basket put in place. It is 
often desirable to see how the work is progressing. For 
this purpose a long handled dipper or large spoon is used. 
Stop the basket, remove the door and dip out the work to be 
examined. 

These baskets are made up in different ways of perforated 
wood, of rubber or rattan. The latter seems to be in most 
general use and gives good satisfaction. The baskets are 
wired back and forth ; the wires being inside and running 
from end to end and only a few inches apart. This is to 
give the work connection with the negative pole of the dy- 
namo, the wires all running to the brass axle at either end of 
the basket and being securely soft soldered to it to insure a 
perfect connection ; the brass axles running in brass collars 
on either side of the tank, to which is connected the negative 
pole of the dynamo. 

While these plants can be and are successfully run, anyone 
contemplating putting in such a plant would do well to se- 
cure the services of a specialist to fit up and start the plant, 
as it is a little out of the ordinary way of plating. Many 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 309 

platers are unable to operate them, successfully, owing prin- 
cipally to the fact that they do not use suitable solutions. 
Ordinary solutions are of no value with the basket process, 
as for this work solutions must be supplied with all the 
metal they will take up. (See formula.) This is true with 
copper and nickel, but the reverse is the case with silver; 
the work to be silvered first being coppered, a weak silver 
solution will suffice, as only a thin film is usually required. 

Up to the present time it seems that no one using this pro- 
cess has been able to use it successfully in a solution where 
two or more metals are in combination, such as brass or 
bronze. To overcome this difficulty the work is first cop- 
pered, getting the bright, burnished finish, then put into 
buckets of cold water, dipped out into large wire baskets 
made for this purpose and plated for a few minutes in the 
bronze or brass solution, shaking and stirring the work often, 
so that all parts are colored alike. Then the work is quickly 
removed, dried and lacquered. This brassing or gilding 
process, as it is called, should be quickly done, as if any 
considerable plate is deposited it will spoil the brilliancy of 
the finish. 

Copper Plating by the Revolving Basket Process. — 
Cyanide solution is made dense in metal, so as to register 
30 B. Copper anodes are suspended on each side of the bas- 
ket for its full length and about four inches away from it. 

For lead and soft metal the basket is allowed to stand in 
the solution until the articles to be plated get a covering 
of copper. The basket may then be started in motion. The 
rolling consists of turning four times in eight seconds and 
stopping for the same length of time and this kept up until 
the work is rolled up to a bright copper. 

The rolling and slop mot ion is obtained by what i-- known 
as a revolving washing machine hanger. 

For articles made of lead and soft metal it will take from 
one and one-half to two hours to obtain the bright finish. 



310 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

Hard metal, such as iron, steel, zinc, etc., may be started 
rolling as soon as the basket is put in the solution and will 
take from one-half to one hour to give it the bright finish. 

Nickel Plating by Revolving Basket Process. — Nick- 
el solution is made up of the double sulphate of nickel and 
ammonium salts, as much as the water will take up, with the 
addition of one-half pound muriate of ammonia or one-half 
pound common salt to the gallon. Nickel anodes should be 
suspended the entire length of the basket and four inches 
away from it. 

As soon as the work is put in the solution the stop motion 
is applied, and it takes from one-half hour to one and one- 
half hours to give the work a bright, buffed finish. 

For revolving basket plating it requires a dynamo current 
strength of at least seven volts, as the connection in the work 
is very poor and frequently broken by tumbling. 

The most economical size of the basket for this work is : 
Diameter, fourteen inches; length, twenty-eight to thirty-six 
inches. Baskets of a greater diameter break up quickly, and 
smaller ones have not got the rolling power. 

The latest improved method for plating this class of goods 
consists of a wooden tub about twenty-four inches deep, 
eighteen inches in diameter at bottom and twenty-four inches 
in diameter at top. These tubs revolve on an iron pedestal 
at about forty-five degrees. The bottom of the tub is of 
metal, usually copper. This furnishes the cathode connec- 
tion for the work being plated, the metal bottom having a 
copper strip pressing against it in the form of a spring as 
the tub revolves. This spring is connected with the cathode 
wire or negative pole of dynamo. The anode or positive 
po'e is brought along overhead with a perpendicular wire 
connected over each tub to which the anode is attached. Just 
enough solution is put in the tub to nicely cover the work. 
The anode is allowed to hang into the solution as deep as 
possible without touching the work. The advantages of this 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF ME'l \LS. 



system arc the ease with which the work is handled, always 
having the work in sight while plating, economy of floor 
space, cleanliness and increased output. This s) stem is han- 




Fig. 75. 



died much the same as .the one previously described. Hie 
solution used mostly in this machine is the copper solution. 
The work is then usually finished in brass, bronze or silver in 
the wire baskets recently referred to. 



CHAPTER XV. 

. FINISHING PLATED GOODS. 

Burnishing. — Burnishing is for the purpose of producing 
a smooth, hard and highly polished surface upon plated arti- 
cles of gold and silver without removing any of the plate. 
Methods are now in use for doing away with burnishing on 
the cheaper classes of work by having the articles highly 
polished before plating ; then plated with a slow and steady 
current, getting a hard close-grained deposit ; then buffing 
the goods afterwards. This plan, no matter how carefully 
done, is only suitable for cheap work, as the buff removes 
more or less of the plate and in the case of soft metals con- 
siderable of the plate is removed before the desired finish is 
obtained. For first-class wearing qualities in silverware and 
cutlery it is still necessary that the goods be burnished. 
As proof of this, if the plater will investigate any of the 
large silver plating concerns in the east where flat ware is 
manufactured, it will be found that all bright parts are still 
burnished, either by hand or on the burnishing lathe. Bur- 
nishing polishes the plate down hard upon the base metal, 
filling up small scratches and other defects and closing the 
pores in the plate, thereby making it smooth, very hard and 
consequently more durable. 

This work is usually lightly buffed with soft buffs and 
powdered rouge to remove any burnish marks that may 
remain and to even up the surface, but this operation removes 
very little of the plate, as it has already been made hard 
and smooth by the burnisher. 

Extra precaution is necessary in plating goods that are 
to be burnished; it must be a firm and adhesive deposit to 

312 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 313 





F i g . 75. Shapes of Burnishers. 



prevent blistering or peeling up under the pressure of the 
burnishing tool. 

Hollow ware is usuall) burnished in the lathe upon v\ 1 

en chucks made to tit the article, using long handled tools 

of steel or blood stone, with soao suds as a lubricant. All 



$14. THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 

parts but handles, legs and spouts may be burnished in the 
lathe, which is much quicker than hand work. The pro- 
jecting parts are afterwards burnished by hand. 

It takes considerable time and experience to become a 
skilled burnisher, either on the lathe or by hand. Hand 
burnishing looks easy, but, like everything else, it takes time 
and patience to become proficient. To the beginner it is 
both hard and tiresome work. 

In preparing for hand burnishing the first thing is to se- 
cure as good a light as possible. The work should be done 
on a stationary table which will be a little above the waist 
of the operator when seated. To this bench should be nailed 
a board about six inches wide and projecting out from the 
bench about six to eight inches. This is called the burnish- 
ing peg and gives the operator free use of his arms in burn- 
ishing, which is essential. Over the projecting peg or board 
is wound a cotton cloth tacked upon the underside to pre- 
vent the work from being scratched. A piece of thick 
leather (walrus is preferable if obtainable) should be tacked 
to the bench on the right of the burnisher and near the peg, 
so as to be convenient for use without getting up. Grooves 
should be cut across this leather. Into one of these put a 
little flour emery and oil ; in another powdered crocus or 
rouge ; in a third putty powder or Vienna lime may be used. 
These are for polishing and brightening the tools, keeping 
them in perfect condition. The emery should be used first 
and the tool wiped off before using each succeeding groove. 
Now with a bowl of soap water, made by two or three slices 
of laundry soap left in the bowl of water over night, and a 
clean, soft cotton cloth, you are ready to begin burnishing. 

The tool is grasped close to the blade with the right hand, 
the end of the handle resting against the left breast of the 
operator. The tool being held tightly against the breast, it 
works as a sort of pivot or hinge as the tool is being swept 
back and forth, keeping it firm and in the proper position. 
Professional burnishers in large silverware factories use a 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 315 

brass plate an eighth of an inch thick, with a number of 
small holes or dents in it to act as sockets for the end oi 
the handle. This plate us held on the breast by a curd 
around the neck and serves to distribute the pressure over 
the chest and protect the clothing. The tool should be kept 
wet with the soap water, and swung back and forth on the 
article with an even pressure, each succeeding stroke lapping 
over the last one so as not to leave unburnished streaks. 
Care must be taken to keep the tool from scratching or cut- 
ting into the plate. If it scratches the work, it should If 
vigorously polished upon the leather. Sometimes a tool mav 
be too soft, or have soft spots, which will cause the scratches. 
The work should be thoroughly freed from grease before 
burnishing. This is best accomplished by using wet, white, 
sea sand and then rinsing well to remove all sand. If the 
work burnishes streaked, or with dark marks caused by 
grease, a spoonful of potash may be added to the soap water. 
Burnishing tools have two edges, one sharp and one blunt. 
The sharp ed^ is used for the first operation or "cutting 
down," finishing with the blunt Q(.\ge when it is necessary 
to go over the surface twice. 

Experienced burnishers are able to get an even surface 
and high finish with a single operation, and by going over 
the article a second time not a line or mark is visible, so 
perfect is the finish. It takes a long time to become pro- 
ficient in this work. 

Burnishers are of two kinds, steel and bloodstone. '1 he 
steel tools are in most common use, especially for hand use, 
being much cheaper than bloodstone. Bloodstone or agati 
burnishers are expensive., costinq from $2.00 up: more) vet, 
they are fragile, being apt to chip or crack if allowed to tall. 
or hit against any hard object. They are used chiefly as 
finishers by lathe burnishers and For going over the work a 
second time. They impan a very high polish and brighl 

luster. 

Steel burnishers are in general use' for all classes of w<>rk. 



316 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

The two main objects should be first to get a good grade of 
fine grained steel of which to make the tools ; the next is to 
have them properly tempered so that they will be hard 
throughout. It is a difficult matter to temper burnishing 
tools properly and it should be done by a mechanic that un- 
derstands tempering steel tools. If they are too soft they 
will cut and scratch the plate; if too hard, the tool is liable 
to crack. It is usually better to buy these tools from a deal- 
er, as they can be had in any shape desired. 

Sand Blasts. — Sand blasts are constructed in several dif- 
ferent styles, the main object being to have a sufficient driv- 
ing force, either steam or air, and also to have the sand box 
constructed so that the machine will be self acting, that is, 
so that it will work continuously when the air or steam is 
turned on. If the bottom of the box is given the proper 
slant and is lined with zinc or tin, when the pressure is 
turned on there will be a continuous flow of sand. These 
machines are extensively used in silver shops for getting a 
dead matte finish, which is difficult to obtain with a satin fin- 
ish wheel, also for French gray work on silver. After the 
piece has been oxidized and rubbed down it is then sand 
blasted, which brings out that dull, dark finish usually called 
French gray. 

Jewelers (manufacturing) also use the sand blast for mat- 
ting and satin finishing work. Rings, lockets and other 
things which are to be Roman colored are usually sand 
blasted first. The advantage of this in the jewelry shop 
is that it will satin finish inside and outside alike and in 
close and narrow places where it would be impossible to get 
with a satin finish wheel. The finish is uniform and even, 
and where a good pressure is obtainable the work is rapidly 
done. A pressure of air is the proper force for the sand 
blast in the silver or jewelry shop, as steam causes the sand 
to become wet and clog, thus hindering the work. Different 
grades of sand or quartz may be used, according to the finish 
desired, whether rough or fine. A brilliant finish on soft 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 317 

metals, such as gold and silver, is obtained by using pow- 
dered glass instead of sand. To powder the glass, beat 
glass scraps until red: then drop in a pail of very cold 
water; grade the powder carefully, as the evenness of the 

finish depends on it. 

The sand blast is very serviceable as an adjunct to polish- 
ing on brazed work, such as bicycle parts. The surplus 
brass may be removed by sand blasting, using a steam pres- 
sure. It will also smoothen and remove scratches from iron 
and steel, thus reducing the labor of polishing. The sand 
blast should be provided with a controlling valve in the air 
or steam pipe, so that the pressure may be increased or re- 
duced at will. The top of the sand blast box should also be 
provided with a window set in so that the operator may see 
at all times just how the work is progressing. The inside of 
the sand box being dark, an incandescent lamp is very useful 
to have hanging above the glass in the top of the sand blast. 
In this way it is easy to see how the work is progressing 

For details as to buffing plated work see the chapters on 
polishing, as these matters were thoroughly covered there. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

OXIDIZING AND COLORING PLATED WORK. 

By "oxidizing" in the plating shop is meant the surface 
coloring of metal goods of either silver, copper or brass. 
This is usually for the purpose of imitating the finish upon 
old metal objects that have become oxidized by age and 
constant exposure to the air. Or it may be the object in 
oxidizing goods, especially of copper, to bring out those 
soft, restful shades known to the trade as statuary. bronze. 

While oxidizing, strictly speaking, cannot be considered 
as electro-plating, still it is a very important adjunct to the 
plating business and could not be left out of consideration 
by anyone contemplating a start in the plating business. Of 
late years the amount of chemical finishes and the vast 
range of goods to which they are applied is steadily on the 
increase. These finishes usually give better satisfaction than 
the bright or plain metal finishes, hold their color better 
and are not so apt to tarnish or discolor. 

Silver plated goods to be oxidized in the following solu- 
tions should be plated quite heavy, at least as heavy as an 
ordinary double plate. If the silver plate is very light, the 
chemicals in the dip are liable to remove the silver from 
the base metal and the object would have to be replated. If 
the plate is very light, it will be rubbed or polished off in 
finishing the oxidized article, in which case it usually has to 
be replated, first removing the oxidized finish. 

Black Dip. — For silver plate or sterling silver : 

Water I qt. 

Liver of sulphur (sulphurette of potassium) 6 oz. 

Ammonia I oz. 

318 



THE POLISHING AM) PLATING OF METALS. 3 I u. 

Add the liver of sulphur to the water; heat almost to the 
boiling point; then add the ammonia. Use hot. 

The silver goods must be just as clean for this operation 
as for plating and should be sanded or scratch-brushed wet, 
using soap wood bark or stale beer for scratch brushing, 
then potash the article and rinse in clean water before im- 
mersing in the hot dip. Then hang in the dip, moving 
gently so as to have all parts colored uniformly. When it 
has become black all over, remove, rinse in cold and dun 
in hot water and dry in sawdust. Then scratch brush ( dry ). 
after which it is to be finished and rubbed up by hand with 
fine pumice stone dampened, washed out again, dried and 
lacquered. It is not necessary to dry and scratch brush the 
article after oxidizing if it is to be rubbed with pumice to 
receive its finish, but it may be rubbed with the pumice di- 
rectly from the rinsing water. The object in first dry brush- 
ing is to see that the oxidize is uniform and adheres well 
before proceeding to finish it. 

Care must be taken not to handle work to be oxidized 
after cleaning it. It must be wired as for plating, as the 
finger marks upon the silver would prevent the chemicals 
of the dip from acting on the metal evenly and properly. 
The same care is required in handling the goods after oxi- 
dizing. The hands should be dry and clean, to prevent 
leaving finger marks. Oil or grease must absolutely be kepi 
from this work, as it will ruin it if allowed to come in 
contact with it. 

The oxidizing solution should not be allowed to gel into 
the water vats, either hot or cold, in which the plated work 
is being handled, as it is liable to cause trouble by tarnish- 
ing or oxidizing the work. This solution must be hot For 
silver oxidizing and works best when fresh. 

To remove this finish from silver, place the goods in a 
strong solution of cyanide of potassium. If this dors not 
act rapidlv enough, heat it and the oxidizing will soon be 
removed. 



320 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

In oxidizing large objects which are too large to im- 
merse, or which require to be oxidized in places and not all 
over, the object should be gently heated over an alcohol 
lamp, or any other convenient way, and the solution applied 
with a stiff brush or a stick with a rag wound around the. 
end. Keep applying the oxidizing solution and heating the 
object until a uniform black is obtained, but more than 
enough to blacken the surface must not be applied, as in case 
too much is put on it will peel off similar to an electro plate. 
In that case the finish will have to be removed by cyanide, 
as above described, and unless the article has been heavily 
plated before oxidizing, it may require replating before it 
can be reoxidized, as the staining caused by the chemicals 
seems to penetrate into the more or less porous silver plate, 
so that when it is removed part of the silver plate is also 
removed, 

To remove spots and stains which are bound to get upon 
the work being oxidized where it is not wanted, wet a rag 
or sponge with strong cyanide solution and apply to the 
parts and all stains will be quickly removed. The cyanide 
itself must be immediately removed by rinsing in clean 
water, as otherwise it would attack the silver, leaving it 
streaked and spotted. If left on the plate any great length 
of time the cyanide will dissolve part of the plate. 

There are several different ways of finishing the article, 
after it has been oxidized, besides the one referred to in the 
beginning of this chapter. If the oxidized article is evenly 
brushed with a soft brass wire scratch wheel (an old one 
well worn down is best), a very beautiful black is obtained, 
which is sometimes called gun metal. This finish should 
be lacquered at once, as it is affected by finger marks and by 
the air, if left standing any length of time without lacquer- 
ing. To produce that very highly polished steel black fin- 
ish on silver plated goods the article is first rouge buffed, 
getting a high finish and taking particular care not to leave 
any rouge dirt from wheel or finger marks upon the work. 



TIIK POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 32 I 

Then wire and dip immediately into hot oxidize solution. 
Then rinse in clean cold, then warm, water and buff up at 
once hefore they become dry, as if they become dry they 
are liable to show water streaks and stains. Great care and 
skill is required in getting a high finish on this class of work, 
as the oxidize is very easily cut through, ft is usually han- 
dled the same as silver plate, cleaning out the bull" well first 
with an old file or nails driven through a stick for the pur- 
pose, using very little lamp black mixed with alcohol and 
water and a light pressure. 

Another finish which is used considerably, upon plain sur- 
faces, such as plates, rods, and other articles in the hard- 
ware line, is obtained by oxidizing the object black, as before 
described, and then rubbing the article all one way with wet 
powdered pumice stone, using the palm of the hand or fin- 
ger. A piece of felt may sometimes be used for the rubbing. 
The black should all be removed by rubbing evenly until 
the desired shade of gray is obtained. 

Another way is to use a small felt wheel, with a knife 
edge, for removing the black and exposing the silver, either 
in straight lines or zigzag scrolls. A little hard rouge or 
burring composition should be applied to the C(\ss;e of the 
wheel to make it cut readily. 

Green on Silver. — The light green shade seen in the 
flower and filigree work on silver plate used extensively 
on coffin hardware of the better class and known as French 
gray in this line of business, is produced by using a very 
old liver of sulphur dip in a weakened condition and just 
hot enough to bear the hand into, using plenty of liquid 
ammonia. Immerse the work, watch closely am! remove 
and rinse the instant the green shade appears and rub off 
high lights with wet pumice. 

Still another method is to remove the color where desired 
by the use of very strong cyanide of potassium, applied with 
a sharp stick or tooth pick. 



322 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

Platinum Black or Gray on Silver. — For the higher 
grades of silver plate and sterling silver a solution of plati- 
num is very often used, where the surface is not so large as 
to make the operation too expensive, as the platinum costs 
considerable as compared to some of the other dips. Still, 
a very little of it goes a long way. This solution is always 
applied with a small brush to the parts of the article which 
are to be oxidized. The article is heated and then the plat- 
inum is applied. If it does not turn black, at once, it should 
be heated again. This preparation is used mostly on sterling 
silver pieces that have been etched to give the proper tone or 
shade to the letters ; also where the rim or the flowers on 
the edge of a dish or vase are to be oxidized. It is also used 
in antiquing sterling silver, jewelry and novelties, such as 
ladies' bag frames, buckles and the like. 

After applying and getting the surface to be colored uni- 
formly coated, it is rinsed and treated with pumice stone and 
the scratch brush to get the desired effect. This finish will 
withstand the action of the air very well ; therefore it will 
not be necessary to lacquer it, but a coat of lacquer will im- 
prove its appearance and at the same time protect the plain 
parts of the silver from tarnishing. 

To prepare this solution it is necessary to use an evapora- 
ting dish, so that the acid may be heated. Put into the dish 
any scraps of platinum you may be able to obtain. From 
one-half pennyweight to one pennyweight will be sufficient 
to make considerable of the solution. The platinum wires 
from old incandescent light globes will do if they can be 
obtained. It must be remembered that platinum is very 
expensive, being about on a par with fine gold. After put- 
ting the platinum in the dish, add one ounce of muriatic acid 
and one-half ounce of nitric acid. Both should be C. P. 
Then gradually heat the dish. The more heat applied the 
more vigorous will be the action of the acid upon the plat- 
inum. The dish should be kept hot until the acid has been 
reduced by evaporation to one-fifth its original volume, or 



THE POLISHING A XI) PLATING OF METALS. 323 

until it has a dark red color and the consistency of thin 
syrup. The platinum may not be all dissolved; this is nol 
necessary, as platinum is very hard to dissolve. When the 
acid is sufficiently reduced in volume b) heat, the dish should 
be allowed to cool. After cooling add one-third its volume 
of alcohol. Then bottle for use, saving any scraps of plat- 
inum that may be left for the next occasion. 

Care must be taken in preparing this platinum solution 
(called chloride of platinum) not to inhale fumes, which 
are very injurious to the health. The work should be done 
where there is good ventilation, or in the open air. Great 
care should be taken to use the acids in proper proportions, 
using two parts of muriatic to one part of nitric, otherwise 
the work of dissolving the metal will be slow and unsatisfac- 
tory. 

Iron Black or Gray ox Silver. — Another solution 
which is often used upon artistic pieces of silver and which 
is greatly admired by lovers of antique finishes, is made ex- 
actly the same as the platinum, with the exception of sub- 
stituting sulphate of iron for the scraps of platinum. Take 
about an ounce of sulphate of iron (crystals). Reduce it in 
the evaporating dish with muriatic and nitric acids, using 
rather more acid than for platinum. When the iron is cut 
up, evaporate to one-fifth its volume, allow to cool and add 
one-third its volume of alcohol. Bottle for use and apply 
this with a brush. In using this solution the article will not 
require heating, as it will act upon the metal very readily. 
When cold this preparation gives the work a beautiful dark 
brown or black color, tinged with red. By heating the ar- 
ticle a red sediment will be formed in the hollows and crev- 
ices, then the high lights being rubbed off with pumice stone 
gives the finished article a beautiful effect. This prepara- 
tion in man}- instances takes the place of platinum, as with 
a little care almost any shade may be obtained which is ob- 
tained with platinum. Besides the red cast obtained by 



324 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

heating- which is peculiarly its own, it has still a greater ad- 
vantage of being' inexpensive. 

Cheap Black on Silver. — For blackening or oxidiz- 
ing backgrounds of chased work, leaves, trees, or fig- 
ures, such as are seen in imported silver goods, especially 
those of German manufacture, a preparation of lamp black 
is used moistened with water and applied to the article with 
a stiff brush (an old tooth brush is handy). Allow the 
color to dry ; then remove the black from the exposed parts 
with a damp cloth ; finish with a dry cloth by rubbing briskly. 
This gives a very handsome finish upon some goods and is 
the proper thing upon goods supposed to have been made 
several hundred years ago, or for imitations of such goods. 
If properly dried and finished up this will not rub off and 
gives good satisfaction. 

A preparation called "Lampenswartz" may be purchased 
at any artists' supply store, which is very cheap and greatly 
excells that made by mixing the lampblack and water. It 
is made in Germany and is ready for use, being put up in 
small bottles. To the trade this finish is known as "Turkish 
Oxidize." 

French Gray, or Oxidizing Cheap Work. — For oxi- 
dizing cheap silver plate, where black or very dark color is 
not required, and where the silver plate will not stand much 
rubbing in the finishing process, the following preparation is 
used : 

Granulated sal ammoniac 6 oz. 

Sulphate of copper 6 oz. 

Salt petre (nitrate of potash) 6 oz. 

Boiling water 1 qt. 

It gives the best results and darker shades by using it hot, 
but works very well cold, the shades becoming darker upon 
being exposed to the air. This preparation may be used for 
a long time by simply adding the ingredients in proper pro- 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 325 

portion from time to time according to the amount of work 
which is being oxidized. This solution is used extensively 
for getting French gray finishes, especially upon cheap goods 
which will be described under the proper heading. 

French Gray on Silver. — This finish, which is being 
extensively used upon fine silverware, both plate and sterling, 
is produced in different ways according to the shade desired. 
Whatever the shade or finish, it is necessary that the object 
first be oxidized as for oxidized silver. Then the gray fin- 
ish is brought out afterwards by the use of pumice stone, 
and hand brush, the scratch brush or the sand blast, as the 
case may require. To produce a dark shade of French gray 
the object should be oxidized in the liver of sulphur and 
ammonia solution previously described; then it should be 
brushed with a stiff hand brush and pumice stone with wa- 
ter, brushing the object all one way as much as possible, 
so that the lines may be straight and uniform. The oxi- 
dizing should be entirely removed from the plain parts of 
the piece, being allowed to remain in the background, or 
filligree work. Then the piece is washed and dried in saw- 
dust, allowing no streaks or tarnish to remain upon the 
work. It should then be sand blasted evenly all over, washed 
out and lacquered. Where the sand blast is not available 
the object may be evenly satin finished upon the steel satin 
finish wheel. 

There are other processes after sand blasting to get certain 
shades. For instance, if a softer, duller hue is desired than 
is left by the sand blast, the object may be scratch brushed 
evenly with an old and soft brass wire scratch wheel, either 
wet or dry. Or, after sandblasting, the high lights or edges 
may be relieved by polishing all high parts on a Spanish fell 
wheel with tripoli, finishing with rouge, and then washed 
out, dried and lacquered. This gives a beautiful finish and 
is used extensively upon toilet sets, in finishing the backs ol 
mirrors, brushes, combs, powder boxes, etc. The high parts 



326 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

may also be relieved or brightened by the use of pumice 
stone applied wet, with the hand. 

Very striking effects may be obtained in French gray by 
using the platinum solution ; also the chloride of iron dip 
previously given, especially upon artistic designs where 
heads, flowers or figures of animals form the ornaments. 
The same methods are employed as just described, the sand 
blast being the most important essential in French gray 
finishing", the other appliances and operations being mere 
accessories to get the desired shade. 

The sal ammoniac and sulphate of copper dip previously 
described is' used extensively upon cheap work, as it does 
not attack the silver and is easily removed with a little 
rubbing, consequently it may be applied to a very light 
silver plate. In using this formula a very nice effect may 
also be obtained without the use of the sand blast, simply 
by the use of a hand brush and pumice stone and finishing 
with the hand brush, brushing all one way until the color 
is sufficiently removed to get the desired effect. Or it may 
be given a final finish by the use of the scratch brush, wet 
or dry, then dried and lacquered. 

It is a very common practice (and a good one, too) in fac- 
tories where cheap toilet and novelty goods are manufac- 
tured, to nickel plate all goods before silvering, especially 
those to be French gray or oxidized. Then if in the oper- 
ation of finishing, the silver is worn through, as is often 
the case, it will not be noticeable. This practice greatly 
reduces the amount of silver required in the plating of cheap 
work. 

Black Nickel, sometimes called "gun metal" solution, 
should be classed with the oxidizing dips. While it is ap- 
plicable to all classes of metal goods, whether plated or not, 
it will be given here in full and referred to under other 
heads as the occasion requires. This is used to a great ex- 
tent for getting French gray and gun metal finishes. Strictly 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 327 

speaking, it is not an oxidizing solution, but a plating solu- 
tion, as the current must be used to get results. The 
formula follows : 

Nickel solution 1 gal. 

Carbonate of ammonia 3 oz. 

Ammonia 1 pt. 

White arsenic 1 oz. 

C. P. Cyanide enough to make the solution clear. 

Pulverize the carbonate of ammonia; then dissolve it in 
the nickel solution. Next add the ammonia. Now dissolve 
the arsenic in a small quantity of the solution ; when made 
into a thin paste add it to the solution. Add the cyanide 
last, using enough to clear up the solution. It should be 
about the color of dark vinegar. After thoroughly mixing, 
it is ready for use, using a nickel anode and not too strong 
a current. If the black deposit is streaked or spotted, re- 
move the object and scratch brush; then replate, using a 
little more current. If too much current is used the work 
is liable to come from the solution a dirty gray black. The 
anode in this solution must be kept clean to obtain the best 
results. After the solution has been used for sometime 
the deposit may be off color. In this case add a little more 
arsenic. This deposit may be applied to silver to be finished 
as any other French gray, but being an electro deposit, 
instead of a dip, it may also be finished on the buff, or with 
the burnisher. It is very often used on goods requiring 
a black or gun metal finish. After being removed from the 
black nickel solution, the goods are finished on the scratch 
brush or buff. In this case the goods do not need any 
previous plating of silver, but the gun metal or black 
nickel is deposited directly upon the base metal. 

A cheap method of oxidizing silver is by the use of 
chloride of antimony, or butter of antimony, applied bj a 
small brush to the parts to be oxidized, beating the article 
gently and then wiping dry with a cloth or drying in saw 
dust before rubbing or finishing with the pumice stone. 



328 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

This is only recommended for cheap work and it should 
be quickly lacquered after finishing. Use little or no heat 
in drying- the lacquer, as much heat will change the color 
of the finish. A very good imitation of platinum oxidize at 
one-half the cost may be obtained by making platinum 
oxidize and sulphate of iron oxidize in equal parts and 
mixing the two solutions. The result will be hard to dis- 
tinguish from the pure platinum oxidize. 

There is probably no other branch of the electro-plating 
business, except possibly gilding and rose gold plating, that 
requires more skill and artistic taste in the operator than 
oxidizing and the French gray finishes, especially where 
the operator is compelled to match samples of which, per- 
haps, he has no knowledge of how the finish is obtained and 
no way to find out, so that he must rely entirely upon his 
own skill and judgment. Very often in shops where job- 
bing is done, articles come in to be repaired and soldered. 
Of course hard soldering removes the finish and to be able 
to produce the same finish the plater must see the object 
before it is put through the fire in the soldering operation 
and then retain in his mind just how it should look and how 
the finish was obtained if possible. Then try to reproduce 
the same result. 

Oxidizing of any kind cannot well be patched up. That 
is, in case of a bad spot, or flaw, or peeling up of the color 
of. whatever kind, it is usually better and cheaper to remove 
the color and refinish the whole thing, rather than try to 
doctor up the bad spot. It very seldom if ever gives satis- 
faction to try to patch such work. 

Butler Finish upon Silver. — This is obtained first by 
evenly rubbing the surface with wet powdered pumice, then 
rinsing and scratch brushing on a well worn but smooth 
brass wire wheel, either d. - y or wet. The uniform white 
finish upon silver ware is produced by using a wide brush 
(circular scratch brush), either bristle or wire, but the 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 329 

brush should be well worn and even to get the best results. 
Brush the work all one way as much as possible, using 
finely powdered pumice stone and water on the brush and 
work, applying both freely. Flour of emery may be 
used to obtain a very nice butler finish, being dampened with 
water and applied by hand, rubbing gently in one direction 
until the desired result is obtained. 

The most delicate and handsome butler finish is obtained 
by using flour of emery mixed with olive oil to a thick paste 
and applied to the piece with the tips of the fingers, or the 
palm of the hand, keeping the lines uniformly in one direc- 
tion. This gives a soft, velvety finish obtainable in no other 
way. When the work is properly finished, it should be 
thoroughly washed out with strong hot soap water to which 
a little ammonia has been added, then dried with clean 
cloth or sawdust and lacquered. 

To Fill Letters. — For filling in monograms and letter- 
ing upon silver where they are required to be black what is 
known to the trade as heelball is used, moistened with oil, 
and then rubbed over the letters until they are filled with 
black. The article is then wiped clean with a cloth or towel. 
If the heelball is not obtainable, a mixture of lampblack and 
beeswax, melted together, may be used with satisfactory 
results. 

Oxidized Copper. — For oxidizing copper or copper plated 
articles of any description the formula in most general use is 
composed of : 

Live, of sulphur (sulphurettc of potassium) 3 oz. 

Ammonia 1 "z. 

Water i pal. 

This solution may be used warm or cold a- besl -uit^ 
your requirements, though it is usually used cold. It 
works verv well without the use of ammonia and the amount 



330 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

of liver of sulphur may be reduced or increased as best suits 
the case of each individual operator. It will be found that 
by practice and careful manipulation a great many shades 
and colors may be obtained from this solution. But I wish 
to caution those not familiar with this solution not to use it 
too strong in sulphur on copper work, as in such a case it 
is very apt to peel off, and if the copper plate is light it will 
remove the plate also. If the solution is strong it is best to 
use it cold. Some advantage may be obtained by heating 
slightly a solution weak in sulphur, as this will hasten the 
process. 

Mahogany Red is obtained by first plating the object in a 
duplex copper solution, scratch brush, have thoroughly clean, 
dip quickly into a very weak solution of liver of sulphur, 
remove and rinse in cold water only, as hot water will change 
the color. The proper shade is a mottled brown streaked 
with a fiery red, also with patches of almost black with a 
little blue mixed in. When the desired color is obtained 
dry with a clean cloth or dip in lacquer thinner, to remove 
water, and lacquer at once. The lacquer will usually remove 
the blue tints which are not desirable. If the first operation 
is not successful dip in cyanide and repeat. 

Just enough should be prepared at a time for the require- 
ments of the day., as the solution loses its strength rapidly 
and is best when made fresh every day. 

By using from one to three pennyweights of the liver of 
sulphur in a gallon of water, a golden yellow or straw color 
may be obtained ; by increasing the amount the shade runs 
into a mottled brown, which when scratch brushed with a 
soft brass wire brush brings out a beautiful chocolate color, 
known as statuary bronze. The shades of this also run 
from light brown to dark brown and finally into black. 

Dry scratch brushing is best suited to bring out the color 
and insure a high finish. If the article be dry scratch brushed 
several times it will give better results than just once. 



TIIK POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 33 1 

Different effects may also be obtained by oxidizing the 
articles to the shade desired and then rinsing in clean water 
and rubbing with powdered pumice stone (wet J, either with 
the fingers or with a piece of Spanish felt. 

Other results are obtained by oxidizing the article black ; 
dry off; scratch brush or rub off the surplus black with a 
clean rag, or dry scratch brush; then the object may be 
relieved in places by the use of a clean narrow buff, to 
which wet pumice is applied. Or it may be buffed off in 
places, as the taste of the operator suggests, with the buff 
and rouge or buffing cake. Still another way is to spot the 
article with the corner or edge of a felt wheel. But in each 
instance the operator must be the judge of the style of fin- 
ish best suited to the work in hand. 

A very nice dead black finish may be obtained by oxidiz- 
ing the article black in quite a strong solution ; then rinse 
and dry in sawdust, wipe off gently and lacquer. 

For oxidizing highly polished copper or copper plated ar- 
ticles that require a bright finish or bright colors, a solution 
is used which is composed of 

Hyposulphatc of soda 4 oz. 

Sugar of lead 4 oz. 

Hot water , 1 gal. 

The solution should be well stirred up before using and 
should be used hot, near the boiling point. This solution 
also must be made fresh for each day's operation. 

The work must be highly polished to obtain the best re- 
sults, that is, after copper plating. It should then be thoi 
oughly cleaned with a soft brush and potash, rinsed and 
dipped into the hot solution. When the desired shade is 
obtained, rinse, dry in hot sawdust and lacquer. 

Nearly all the colors of the rainbow ma) be obtained from 
this solution. The colors start in with a lighl yellow, run- 
ning into gold, orange, wine color, purple-, bine, verj lighl 
blue, then into a grayish white. The objects should be agi- 



33- THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

tated while in the solution and must be raised occasionally 
so that the operator may judge when he has obtained the 
proper shade. The work will change rapidly from one color 
to another, so that a careful watch must be kept and the 
piece removed the moment the color is suitable. 

Verde Antique Bronze. — For antique bronzes requiring 
that ancient appearance usually produced upon bronze goods 
by exposure to the atmosphere for many years, the follow- 
ing solution will be found valuable : 

Sulphate of copper ^ lb. 

Sal ammoniac y 2 lb. 

Water 3 pts. 

This solution should be used very hot. After the copper 
and sal ammoniac have been all dissolved the solution should 
be heated nearly to the boiling point and the object to be 
oxidized should be immersed while the solution is kept hot. 
It should be allowed to remain from three to four minutes 
in the dip, moving occasionally so that the oxidizing mak- 
eover the object evenly. When the work takes on a black 
color all over it should be removed and dried off by heating. 
If it comes out properly, the object will be found to have a 
deposit of verdigris in all corners and crevices. This is 
known to the trade as the verde antique finish. The hands 
should now be moistened with a little linseed or olive oil, 
not using enough to make the fingers too oily, just enough 
so that it is perceptible. Then take the object in the hands 
and proceed to finish by rubbing gently all high and exposed 
parts until the whole takes on a beautiful glossy black ap- 
pearance which is set off by the verdigris in the background. 
The grade of the metal to be antiqued will have much to do 
with the finish obtained, as objects made of brass will be 
more readily oxidized than objects made of copper. 

It is sometimes desired to expose the metal itself in places. 
To do this it is only necessary to use a little more pressure 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 333 

with the fingers in finishing those parts where you wesire 
to expose the metal. Usually this finish is not lacquered, as 
the color and finish are usually improved by age. 

Places which have been soft soldered, or holes which have 
heen filled with lead, must first be copper plated before the 
ohject can he finished in verde antique. 

A more pronounced black may be obtained and the results 
obtained more quickly by using 

Sulphate of copper 4 oz. 

Sal ammoniac 4 oz. 

Vinegar 1 pt. 

Use hot. 

A soft brown color may be obtained upon copper by 
brushing the surface with a mixture composed of 

Plumbago y 2 oz. 

Ferric oxide l / 2 oz. 

Alcohol sufficient to make a paste. 

Brush the object over evenly; then heat. When the ar- 
ticle becomes warm and thoroughly dry, brush off the pow- 
der and polish the surface with a chamois skin. Then 
lacquer. The shade of this color may be somewhat regu- 
lated by the amount of heat being used ; the more heat ap- 
plied, the darker will be the finish. 

Royal Copper. — Royal copper is the process of covering 
the article to be royal coppered with a film of lead by electro- 
plating in a lead solution. The article is then placed in a 
retort and heated until the lead is decomposed. Then the 
article is removed and polished. Or the article, which must 
be of copper, is first highly polished, then coated with a mix- 
ture of white lead and alcohol put on evenly all over, then 
put into the retort and heat until the object has become red 
all over and the lead covering is burned to a yellow crust or 
powder; upon cooling remove, brush off the lead oxide and 
polish on a soft small buff. 



334 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

Antique Brass. — Brass is one of the most, if not the 
most, difficult metal upon which to produce the desired 
shades and colors in oxidizing. Owing to the presence of 
zinc, with which the copper is alloyed to produce brass, it 
is difficult to get the more common solutions that work well 
on copper to have any effect on brass. For instance, copper 
is readily oxidized by a weak solution of liver of sulphur, 
used cold, while liver of sulphur has no desirable effect upon 
brass using it either weak or strong, hot or cold. Further 
on it will be described how the brass may first be treated 
with a film of nitrate of mercury and then oxidized the same 
as silver or copper. 

People have very different ideas as to what an oxidize 
finish is and what an antique finish is. Some make the 
proper distinction; some make none at all; others know 
none. They simply see the color and finish. It looks the 
same to them, whether called oxidized brass or antique brass. 

But to the trade anything that is blackened or colored in 
the ground work of background, buffed on the high lights 
and given a bright finish is usually called oxidized brass. If 
the same article has the coloring or oxidizing removed by 
wet pumice stone with the use of the hand brush and fin- 
ishing by rubbing with the hands, giving an old and dull 
appearance to the brass on the raised parts, it would be 
called antique brass. 

Some of the oxidizing solutions given for copper are suit- 
able for brass, but not all, owing to the presence of zinc in 
the brass. A very brilliant and lustrous black may be ob- 
tained upon polished brass goods by immersing in the fol- 
lowing: 

Verdigris V2 lb. 

Ammonia 1 qt. 

Dissolve the verdigris in the ammonia and use hot, dip- 
ping the well cleaned brass articles into the solution until 
they become black; then remove; rinse; dry in hot water 
and sawdust. 



THE POLISHING AM) PLATING OF METALS. 



335 



The solution in most general use for oxidizing brass 
goods, requiring- a steel gray or black finish and which, being 
an electro deposit, may lie buffed or polished, is as follows: 

Muriatic acid I gal. 

Arsenious acid 4 oz. 

Iron filings 4 oz. 

Add the arsenic and iron fillings to the muriatic acid. 

This solution must be used with the electric current, using 
an old file or any clean piece of steel for an anode. A 
weak current should be used and this solution must be kept 
absolutely free from water, so the work, before being placed 
in the solution, should be well freed from water by shaking 
or drying with a clean cloth. 

Lilac Dip for Brass. — 

Butter of antimony 6 oz. 

Muriatic acid 8 oz. 

Arsenious acid 1 oz 

Water 5 gal. 

Black on Brass. — Coat the brass articles thoroughly 
with a solution of nitrate of mercury. Then dip in a hot 
solution of liver of sulphur. The article should be oxidized 
quickly in a quite hot and strong dip, as the white film is 
quickly absorbed by the dip and if allowed to remain too 
long in the dip it will peel off. Cut down the mercury with 
sufficient nitric acid. Then add to this a solution of cyanide 
and water. 

A very beautiful bright black is obtained upon bright brass 
articles by using the following dip: 

Muriatic acid 8 oz. 

Arsenious acid 2 oz. 

Chloride of antimony 1 ' j oz. 

No water should be allowed to get into ibis dip. The 
work should be thoroughly cleaned and dried and then 



336 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

dipped into the dip for a few moments. It may be wiped 
off or scratch-brushed on a soft wheel and the operation re- 
peated several times till the color is satisfactory. If this 
solution is used hot it will give better results. By the addi- 
tion of one and one-half ounces of sulphate of iron to the 
above the finish will be of a blue-black shade. 

The following will give a grayish steel color, and by 
repeated dippings a blue-black on brass. It may be used hot 
or cold, but works best hot : 

Water 10 parts. 

Muriatic «-acid 2 parts. 

Sulphuric ^cid 1 part. 

Arsenious acid 1 part. 

Brown black on brass : 

Muriatic acid I gal. 

Carbonate iron 2 oz. 

Arsenious acid I lb. 

Blue black on brass : 

Muriatic acid 1 gal. 

Sulphate iron 2 oz. 

Arsenious acid 1 lb. 

The solutions can be used without current, but work best 
with current, using steel anode. 

The great trouble with many formulas given for oxidizing, 
especially on brass, is that they give very unsatisfactory re- 
sults, often producing no color whatever. Of course much 
depends upon the quality of the chemicals used and more 
upon the operator himself, and the way he prepares his dip 
or solution and the way he handles his work. These for- 
mulas have all been in practical use and are known to give 
good results if properly handled. 



THE POLISHING 'AND PLATING OF METALS. 337 

Oxidized Gold Finishes. — These are applicable to stat 
uettes, clock eases, novelties, chandelier and ornamental met- 
al goods. These finishes are thoroughly practical, in use 
every day and not found in books. As you, of course, are 

aware, gold is not easy of oxidization. In fact it is known 
as the metal which is the least easily tarnished or oxidized. 
But it has this advantage, that when the oxidization is worn 
off a gold plate remains, whereas in other finishes on copper, 
etc., usually when the oxide is worn off the base metal show s, 
from the fact that all durable oxides depend on the reduction 
of the metal to a sulphide, and if plated it is apt to leave 
the deposit very thin when the job is finished (oxidized). 
The fashion at the present time is to oxidize gold. In fact, 
very little clean, yellow gold leaves the shops, and it seems 
as though the more tarnished or corroded the job is the 
better or more artistic the finish is considered to be. Oxidiz- 
ing gold is usually made applicable to ornamental goods, 
and plain goods (if to be treated at all) are sand blasted to 
help retain the finish. Of course it's practice that does the 
trick. Quite a number of finishes may be produced by 
working at these same finishes with the liquid oxidize and 
dust; and the different finishes can be produced on gold by 
the different materials named in different ways and various 
colors plated to start on. Of course if they were tried under 
skilled personal supervision results could be guaranteed. 
But with a thorough attention to details, they will produce 
the results stated above. 

There are several kinds of blasts, as follows : The regular 
sand blast with coarse sand or quartz; the use of 90 emery. 
150 emery and the steel blast with pulverized steel chips, each 
giving a different effect when finished. Also the pressure oi 
the blast has much to do with the change, as the harder the 
air pressure (at times sixty pounds) the sharper and deeper 
the cut. This blasting is always done before the job is 
plated and the job must always be polished and buffed and 
washed before blastinsr. And if it i^ necessary to have the 



338 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF MEVALS. 

high lights bright they may be burnished or buffed before as 
well as after plating. 

The blasted goods must always be dipped in a good acid 
dip and wet wheeled before plating. The coarse sand blast 
is always dry steel wheeled before dipping in acid ; the emery 
blast goods never, as with the wet wheeling before and after 
plating, and also dry wheel before, there would be too much 
smoothness to the finished job. 

The brushes used to brush down the job are of different 
grades of hand brushes, according to the class of work, as 
a job with deep hollows will need a harder brush than is 
necessary on a job which is comparatively smooth. These 
brushes are of the ordinary shapes. The brushes used to 
apply the oxidizing liquids are round brushes, medium hard. 
The smaller one to put on liquid with is three-fourths inch 
in diameter. The large one, to stipple, or dry off and even 
up with, is the same style brush one inch in diameter. By 
stippling, I mean to strike endwise. The brush to apply the 
dusting powders with is the one-inch Fitch lacquer brush, 
chisel shaped. Use a separate brush for each class of pow- 
der ; don't use one for all. This is true also with the round 
oxidizing brushes. Keep the brushes used for picric acid 
separate from those used for picric and catechu, etc. When 
they get too dirty, they may be washed out by dipping in hot 
water and shaking out ; repeat until clean and press into 
shape and let dry out. To use the brushes to apply the 
oxidizing, dip in the liquid and brush off the surplus on the 
edge of the dish as much as possible and then with a down- 
ward swing shake out the excess; apply it to the job and 
then take the other brush and stipple until the finish is even. 

The dusting powders are put on by dipping the end of the 
brush in a little of the powder and then put it on to the 
job with an end-striking motion, lightly. Do not brush it 
on as if painting. The umber used is burnt umber and the 
rottenstone and lampblack must be of the best quality. If 
cheap lampblack is used, it is apt to be greasy and looks 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 339 

streaked on the job. Rottenstone must be of the best grade, 
well bolted, and then thoroughly calcined. 
The oxidizing liquids are as follows: 

No. 1. Alcohol 4 oun< 

Picric acid _> ounces. 

This makes a dark greenish shade and is a dark color if 
brushed. 

No. 2. Alcohol 4 ounces. 

Picric acid 1 ounce. 

This is not so green as Xo. I, more of a yellowish green. 

No. 3. Alcohol 4 ounci 

Picric acid '{> ounce. 

Powdered catechu added. 

This is of rather a brownish, smoky color, not very green. 

No. 4. Is No. 2 with a little powdered gamboge added. 

The tint is a greenish yellow, smoky. 

No. 5. Is alcohol with a little gamboge added. 

No. 6. Is alcohol with double the amount of picric acid as for 
No. 1, and also with a little gamboge added. 

It is better when using this to have the job just warm 
(not hot) and smear it on; when cool, clean it up and dull 
the finish. A very good oxidize to smear on, and it brushes 
down very green. Do not stir up the liquid after starting to 
use it, but it should be well stirred at the beginning. 
course these colors called green are not a real green, like 
green paint, hut they are of a greenish tinge, smoky, like die 
French finishes on bronzes. After applying the picric acid 
dip if the work does not oxidize readily it should be exposed 
to the fumes of ammonia, which will hasten the oxidizing 
and produce the green sediment. 



34° 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



The dusting powders used with these liquids are as fol- 
lows : 

No. I. Umber and rottenstone, thoroughly mixed to form a 
light brownish mixture. 

No. 2. Umber, catechu and rottenstone, to make quite a reddish 
mixture. 

No. 3. Lampblack and umber, a very dark mixture. 

No. 4. Lampblack and rottenstone, to make a greyish mixture. 

No. 5. Is No. 1 with about one-third as much more rottenstone 
added; it is a dark brownish mixture. 

No. 6. Lampblack and umber, not so dark as No. 3, but with 
more umber added to it. 

When making up these mixtures of powders and liquids, 
and before using up all of the powders, take some of each 
powder on a sheet of paper and prepare some more of it, so 
that you can match the color. By so doing and making a 
sample for each finish, both colors, that is, one when plated, 
before oxidizing, and one after it is oxidized, any jobs can 
be made up as per sample at any time. 

When oxidizing, if you are desirous of making the job 
more greenish, or you wish it to brush more evenly, breathe 
on the job until it seems to make the liquid moist; then 
either brush or strike blows with the brush. Strike especial- 
ly to reach work with deep hollows. If the work is brushed 
or pounded too much, it will make the job glossy and dirty. 
It is better to oxidize with the liquid and brush and pound 
a second time than to try to do all at once, or with one 
oxidize. The best way is to go over the whole job for one 
operation and then again for the next operation, rather than 
to try to finish up each piece completely at once. By doing 
the whole job as recommended, the work is more uniform. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 3 ..J I 

These finishes are nearly all plated first in a green gold 
solution and arc to match French colors. This class of work 
is rarely lacquered. 

TO APPLY THESE FINISH ES. 

No. I. Bronze metal; 150 emery blast; ornamental parts 
burnished before and after plating". Plate in green gold, a 
nice light yellow, not too dark. Brush over with liquid 
oxidize No. 2 twice and stipple each time. Brush down a 
little until the work is of a nice greenish shade and dust 
over lightly with No. 1 dust. 

No. 2. Bronze metal; 150 emery blast ; no burnishing. 
Plate in green solution to a light color, almost like brass. 
Oxidize twice with, liquid oxidize No. 2 and stipple each 
time ; then oxidize and stipple with liquid oxidize Xo. 3, 
then brush lightly to darken and dust lightly with No. 6. 
Fill in matte and ornamentation with catechu and lamp- 
black in alcohol ; paint in with a pencil brush : let dry a min- 
ute. Brush out the excess and pound lightly to even up die 
matted surfaces. 

No. 3. Brass metal: 150 emery blast; burnish ornamental 
and high parts. Plate a light color in green solution. ( )xidize 
with liquid oxidize No. 2. Stipple and repeat and then paint 
once with Xo. 3; rub over the plain and high part- with 
alcohol, with a little catechu added and wipe off lightly. 
The plain burnished parts are then rubbed over with thinner 
with a drop of lacquer added, so that it just dulls the job. 

Xo. 4. Bronze metal ; 150 emery blast : no burnish. Plate 
in a green solution to a light greenish yellow. < >xidize once 
with liquid Xo. 2; stipple and oxidize with liquid Xo. 3 and 
again stipple. Dust lightly with Xo. 4 dust, bill in the 
ornamentation with catechu and rottenstone in alcohol. 
When dry brush out the excess until u just -bow- a dusty, 
brownish grey in the hollows. 



342 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

No. 5. Bronze metal ; fine sand blast. The fine sand blast 
is made with a low air pressure, so that it does not cut deep- 
ly or roughly. Buff on the high parts before plating and 
burnish them after plating. Plate in a green solution to a 
light yellow green. Oxidize with No. 2 reduced until very 
weak with water; brush and stipple and if not dark enough 
repeat the operation. When dry lacquer with a plain white 
lacquer. Flow the lacquer over and do not brush much, or 
it will make the job look streaked. When the job is wet 
with No. 2 oxidize, it shows what the color will be when the 
job is lacquered. Color a greenish yellow. This finish is 
very handsome and durable. 

No. 6. Cast brass metal; plate in green gold to a light 
color and then burnish ; as brass metal burnishes wavy with 
a little pressure, all goods for this finish must be cast brass 
metal. Wrought metal will not burnish wavy, like cast. 
Brush over with a little catechu and umber in alcohol. Re- 
peat until the work has a dull, greenish, antique finish. The 
filling should be dark and brownish in tint. Rub with a 
cloth and gamboge in alcohol to make it more yellow and 
with a cloth dipped in No. 2 to make it more green. Bur- 
nish the high parts also. 

No. 7. Louis XVI finish. Brass metal; no blast; dip in 
acid, chase the border and any figures. Plate to a nice light 
green in a green solution. Burnish the high and plain parts 
before and after plating. It will burnish wavy. Oxidize 
with a brownish mixture of umber, catechu and a very little 
lampblack in alcohol. Brush and wipe off and, if too green, 
wipe over with a cloth dipped in alcohol, with a little gam- 
boge added. If too yellow, wipe with a cloth dipped in 
picric acid dissolved in alcohol. Dust, if necessary, with a 
little plain rottenstone to dull the surface. Color matte 
parts a brownish red, dark color, and do not have too much 
filling in the matte, neither should it be too dark. 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 3 J 3 

No. 8. Bronze metal; sand blast heavily. Burnish tin- 
high parts before and after plating. Plate in a green solu- 
tion to a dark, yellow green. Brush with liquid oxidize 
No. 2; stipple and repeat; then brush once with liquid oxi- 
dize No. 3. Dust lightly with No. i dust. On large crooked 
pieces it is not necessary to dust, but you can let the job go 
of a nice, dark, greenish color, with just a tinge of brown. 

No. 9. Brass metal ; for ornamental goods with 150 emery 
blast for plain goods, burnish wavy before and after plating. 
Plate in a green solution to a green brass color. For orna- 
mental goods, oxidize once with liquid oxidize No. 3 and 
dust with dust No. 5,, wipe off the high parts to brighten 
them and wipe over with liquid oxidize lightly, to get a 
green tinge. If not green enough,, use liquid oxidize Xo. 1. 
For plain goods wipe over with liquid oxidize Xo. 3 lightly 
and then wipe over lightly with gold dye Xo. 44 ( Egyptian 
Mfg. Co. make), to dull. 

No. 10. Brass or bronze metal ; no blast ; run in acid cop- 
per solution to make the matte parts dull. Brush quite dull 
with rottenstone before plating. Plate in a green solution 
to a yellowish green; lacquer with lastina lacquer, with gold 
color No. 14 added. This color is a nice yellow color, with 
just a reddish tinge. For ornamental goods, the same solid 
dull color. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE LACQUERING OF PLATED WORK. 

Lacquering is the coating of any metal with a hard, skin- 
like transparent film, either colorless or colored as desired, 
the purpose being to improve the appearance of the finished 
article and to protect it from the tarnishing and corroding 
influences of the atmosphere. It is also of value in protect- 
ing the plate from being worn off as readily as it would be 
if not lacquered. The lacquered articles may be wiped off 
with a soft, damp cloth, or dusted; they may even be 
washed with lukewarm water and soap, if necessary. 
Lacquer improves the appearance and increases the durabil- 
ity of all brass, bronze and copper goods, also sterling silver 
and silver and gold-plated goods. 

The susceptibility of most metallic surfaces to atmospheric 
influences is so great that it is indispensable to lacquer them 
to protect them. Even packing in damp paper or contact 
with the hand may produce sufficient oxidation to entirely 
spoil the appearance which the metal is intended to produce. 

The protecting layer must be such that it must cover with- 
out concealing the metal or affecting its luster, and must, of 
course, have no tendency to oxidize it or injure its brilliancy 
in any way. Ordinary spirit lacquers are quite unsuitable, 
as they change the appearance of the surface entirely. The 
lacquers which answer the purpose fully — i. e., remain in- 
visible while affording full protection — are the celluloid 
lacquers. They are also so elastic that they never peel or 
crack off. They may be easily made by the plater in an 
emergency, but should always be bought where possible, as 
'the purchased article will be found to be both cheaper and 
better. 

344 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 345 

If the plater desires to make such a lacquer, he may do 
so by dissolving transparent celluloid in a mixture of alco- 
hol and ether. As soon as the solution has become clear by 
standing it is ready for use. If unable to purchase celluloid 
he may make that by taking collodion wool, the form of 
gun cotton used for preparing collodion by photographers, 
and dry it over sulphuric acid in an air-tight case for thirty- 
six to forty-eight hours. Then put it into a flask with, for 
every pound of it, three pounds to four pounds of ether, 
and three pounds to six pounds of very strong spirit. In a 
few days solution will be nearly or very nearly complete. 
Pour off the clear liquor from the sediment, if there is any, 
and add one-quarter to one-half pound of camphor for each 
pound of collodion wool used. The lacquer is finished as 
soon as the camphor is dissolved. It can be diluted with 
spirit if required, and will give an invisible but hard and 
elastic coating. These celluloid lacquers are far more dura- 
ble than simple collodion lacquers. They will not crack, 
even in coats several millimetres thick. They can be dyed 
if wished, with a solution of aniline dye in spirit. 

The celluloid lacquers should not be applied with a brush, 
and the coats must be dried at a particular temperature or 
they will become iridescent. The object to be lacquered 
being perfectly clean and free from grease, it is dipped by 
being suspended by a fine wire, immediately removed, 
drained, and dried at a temperature not exceeding 95 dc^. V. 
till free from smell. To economize lacquer, the dipping 
should be done when several objects have accumulated, and 
should be carried out with all convenient speed, and the 
superfluous lacquer should then be at once rebottled. When 
an object cannot be dipped the lacquer may be applied with 
a fine hair brush, but dipping should always In- the method 
resorted to whenever practicable. 

Xiekel is the one metal used by platers that is not pro 
tected or benefited by the use of lacquer: being very hard 



346 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

and of a nontarnishable nature, the use of lacquer is of 
little or no value upon nickel-plated objects. 

There are several grades of lacquer for dipping and 
brushing, which are suited to the different classes of work. 
There are colors which may be obtained for mixing with 
lacquers for getting the different shades of gold. This col- 
ored lacquer is used upon gold-plated goods, brass and brass- 
plated goods, such as lamps, chandeliers, brass beds, hard- 
ware and furniture trimmings and other articles of brass and 
brass plate. The coloring is added to the lacquer a very 
little at a time. In the case of brush lacquering, where a 
small quantity is used, two or three drops will be found 
sufficient to get the desired shade. It should be well mixed 
up and allowed to stand an hour or more, so as to get an 
even color, before using. 

In lacquering it is very essential that the object should 
be perfectly clean, and free from dampness, grease or finger 
marks, as any imperfections or dirt will show up badly un- 
der the lacquer. In lacquering highly polished articles of 
brass or plate, they may be polished and buffed up bright, 
ithen washed out to remove all grease and buffing com- 
pound, then run over a clean buff lightly, not using any 
rouge or buffing compound. This will leave the goods in a 
clean and highly polished condition. Any grease spots or 
dampness will cause the lacquer to turn white while dry- 
ing. In that case it is usually best to remove the lacquer 
and refinish the article; still, if the work has only a white 
spot here and there, it may be removed by applying a little 
lacquer thinner to the spot with the tip of the finger. This 
white or clouded appearance is more apt to occur in using 
the dip lacquers. 

In applying brush lacquers a fine camel hair brush should 
be used, one that is well made and will not drop its hairs 
while being used, as a few stray hairs spoil the appearance 
of the work, and once on the work cannot well be removed 
without marring the finish. Goods to be lacquered should 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OK METALS. 347 

not be cold, yet not hot; the best results arc obtained by 
having the articles just perceptibly warm. If the work is 
too warm the lacquer will start to dry before the brush- 
ing- operation is finished, thus making the work rough and 
streaked. New lacquer is usually ready for use just as 
received, but as it becomes exposed to the air from time 
to time it becomes thick and the addition of lacquer thinner 
is necessary to get the proper consistency. In reducing 
lacquer care should be taken to use thinner of the same 
grade as the lacquer. 

Brush lacquer should be used as thin as is possible with- 
out showing the rainbow colors. Such colors are usually 
due to too much thinner. In case the work shows the rain- 
bow colors it may be given another coat over the first one, 
but not until the first is thoroughly dry, In using brush 
lacquer the object should be brushed all one way as much 
as possible. Avoid going over the same place twice and 
use enough lacquer so that it can be spread and flow easily, 
but not enough to form a drip while drying. One of the 
essential points in good lacquering is to handle the work as 
quickly as possible, getting the article covered and hung up 
with very little handling. 

Dip lacquer should be used in a vessel of suitable size 
and shape for the work to be dipped. Tin vessels can be 
made of the required shape and size, having tight covers, 
which should be kept in place when the lacquer is not being 
used. Galvanized iron or zinc vessels should never be used 
to contain lacquer, especially the cheaper grades, as the ac- 
tion of the lacquer upon the zinc soon causes it (the lacquer) 
to become thick and stringy and of a greenish color. 

An arrangement of suitable hooks or rods should be 
placed immediately above the lacquer tank, so that the 
lacquered work may be hung up over the tank to drip 
before going into the drying oven. 

In lacquering large pieces of silverware or other articles 
of peculiar shape the piece should be studied before dip- 



34S THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

ping, to see which way it may be hung to dry so as to give 
the lacquer the best chance to flow off and leave as little 
drip as possible. When dip-lacquered articles show the 
rainbow colors, the article may be redipped after this first 
coat is dry, which will usually remedy the difficulty. 

It. is useless to try to do good work with lacquer in the 
same room with other work, or where there is machinery, 
as any dust settles on the lacquered articles while drying, 
thus spoiling the finish. I have seen the lacquering depart- 
ment established in one corner of the buffing and plating 
room, having all these in one room and a small room at 
that! Then people wonder why they can't get good work! 
Good work is simply impossible under such conditions. 

The lacquer room should be separated from the other 
departments by a partition, should have as good light as 
possible and where large quantities of lacquer are used the 
room should be made fire proof, or as nearly so as may be. 
This may be done either by plastering or the use of sheet 
iron, asbestos or other suitable fire-proof material, which 
will prevent fire from spreading in case of accident, which is, 
however, not likely to happen if due caution is observed in 
handling the lacquers. 

Steam is the best possible agent to use for heating the 
lacquering ovens, where it is available all the year around, 
as it should be in any large shop. Steam for drying and 
incandescent lights, when artificial light is necessary, would 
reduce the danger of fire to a minimum. Where gas is used 
for heating ovens and lighting purposes in the lacquer room, 
more care is necessary, as lacquered work allowed to drip 
in a hot oven is liable to cause trouble. About ioo deg. F. 
is the proper temperature for drying work. It should be 
allowed to dry slowly and all the surplus lacquer should 
have dripped off before the work goes into the oven. After 
the lacquer has been thoroughly dried, more heat may be 
applied and the lacquer well baked on the article which 
makes it very hard, close grained and tough, giving better 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 349 

wearing qualities. Especially is this so with dip lacquer. 
To do good work with lacquer takes time and practice. 
Girls become very proficient at this work with the brush, 

with a little experience. 

The lacquer room should be as well ventilated as possible, 
as beside? being readily inflammable, the gases from the 
lacquer have a detrimental effect upon the throat and lungs 
of the operator. 

Lacquer brushes when not in use should be kept in a cup 
or basin containing thinner; this keeps them soft and pli- 
able. 

Long rods or pieces of tubing are sometimes trouble- 
some to lacquer with the brush, as in lacquering long pieces 
some spots are very liable to be left unlacquered. These 
spots or streaks wdl soon become tarnished, spoiling the 
appearance of the whole job. To overcome this and avoid 
the possibility of skipping any part, the rods or tubes should 
be hung or stood up at full length; after being wiped clean, 
take a clean cotton rag, saturate it thoroughly with the 
lacquer, wrap it twice loosely about the rod or tube and 
run it gently from one end to the other. If carefully and 
properlv done, it is possible to do nice work in this way 
much quicker than by brushing. 

In lacquering small work plenty of hangers and hooks 
should be provided. If the work is something not suited 
to hooks or wires for hanging in the oven, trays made of 
wire netting with a mesh small enough to prevent the work 
from falling through are used. 

For removing old lacquer from goods to be refinished, it 
is the usual method to immerse them in hot lye until the 
lacquer peels off. Brush lacquers are much more easily 
removed from the work than dip lacquers; also cheap lacquer 
is more readily removed than the better grades. Some 
classes of work that have been lacquered would be injured 
by the hot potash. Work which has been soft soldered will 
have the lead attacked by the strong lye. coating the whole 



350 THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 

object with a film of lead or tin. In that case it must be 
entirely refinished. The different kinds of oxidized work 
are affected by hot lye and to save the finish the work should 
be closely watched and removed as soon as the lacquer be- 
gins to loosen from the work ; then the remaining lacquer 
may be removed by the use of boiling hot water. 

To remove the lacquer from work which for any reason 
cannot be immersed in potash, very hot water may be used. 
It takes somewhat longer than the potash, but the finish 
on the goods will not be disturbed. 

For removing lacquer in patches from a piece of work, 
or from small pieces, or from such things as the backs of 
brushes, mirrors and combs, where neither potash or hot 
water can be used, lacquer thinner or alcohol may be ap- 
plied until the lacquer is removed. Lacquered articles some- 
times become marred or chipped in spots. It is useless in 
such cases to try to relacquer or patch the spot as a satis- 
factory job can seldom be done in this way; the only way is 
to remove the lacquer and relacquer the article. 



INDEX. 



A 

Acid Copper Solutions ... 285 
" Danger of Adding 

Water 93 

" Dips and Pickles. 88, 126, 127 
" Pickle, Hydrofluoric . . 95 
" " Muriatic ... 96 

" " Sulphuric ... 93 

" Stripping Solutions . . 246 

Ampere 182 

" Meters, Advantages 

of 162 

Anodes, Brass 292, 299 

Bronze 302 

Copper 282 

Gold 206 

Nickel 273 

Silver 245 

Anode Rods, Protection of . 272 
Antimony Chloride .... 327 

Antique Brass 334 

Appearance of Pickled Work 90 
Arrangement of Plating 

Room . . 109 
" Polishing 

Room . . 20 

B 

Balancing Wheels . . . - . 56 

Barrels, Rattling B3 

" Rolling 304 

Tumbling 83 

Basket Plating 262 

Baskets, Rolling 307 

Belt Strapping .... 30, 12, 13 

Belts, Polishing 12. 58 

Bisulphite of Carbon . . . .228 

Biting up 249, 

Black Dip on Silver . . 318,323 
Nickel 326 



Black on Brass 335 

Blowers 3f> 

Blue Dip 23 

" on Copper 321 

" " Steel 321 

Books Behind Advanced 

Practice 9 

Brass, Antique 334 

Black on 335 

Bright Dip for .... 99 

" Green on 311 

" Lilac on 335 

Oxidized 331 

" Solutions 289 

Bright Dip for Copper, Brass, 

etc 99 

" Dipping !<7 

" Essentials in 

97,99, 107 
" Preparing 

Work for . . 99 

" Nickeling 261 

" Solutions 242 

Brittania, to Plate 237 

Bronze, Bright Dip for . . . 99 

" Green on 341 

" Solutions 3<)1 

" Verde Antique . . . 832 

Buffs 68 

" Speed of 71 

" Sizes of 71 

" Qualities of .... 69,70 

" Sewed 69, 73 

Buff Stick 56 

Hurting Composition, to Use. 73 

Copper 73 

" Sand 79 

Bull-neck Wheels 60 

Burnishing 312 

Burnishing in Barrels . . . 84 
Butler Finish 328 



35 1 



35 : 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



c 

Capacity, to Get 273 

Castings, to Grind 45 

Carbonate of Copper . . . .294 
" " Zinc ..... 294 

Canvas Wheels 47 

Chain, to Polish 67 

Chemicals, Impurities in . . 299 
Chloride of Antimony . . .327 
Clamp for Covering Wood 

Wheels 51,52 

Cleaning Tanks 133 

Coloring Finished Work . . 318 
Commutators, Glazing of . .166 
Commutator, To Clean . . .167 
Composition, Buffing, To Use 73 
Compounds, White Buffing . 78 
Compressed Leather Wheels 61 
Connections, Capacity of . . 169 
i " Electric . . . 169 

Construction of Dynamos . .145 

Copper, Blue on 321 

Bright Dip for ... 99 

To Buff 73 

Carbonate, To Make. 294 

Purple on 321 

" Oxidized 329 

" for RollingBaskets . 309 

Royal 333 

Solutions . . .' . .282 

Yellow on 321 

Coppering by Immersion . . 287 
Cotton Flannel Wheels ... 75 

Covers for Tanks 135 

Covering Wood Wheels ... 51 

Crocus , . • 78 

Current Necessary for Work 

161, 175 

Cyanide, Free 251, 291 

" Fumes, Inhaling . 15 

" Poisoning .... 11 

" " Symp- 

toms of . 12, 15 



D 

Dip, Black on Silver .... 318 
" Blue, for Silver .... 238 
" Bright, for Iron .... 96 

" Cyanide 257 

" Gray „ . . 322 



Dip, Green on Silver . . . .321 

" Lilac on Brass 335 

" Muriatic Acid for lion . 96 

" Platinum 322 

" Ormolu 104 

" Satin Finish 101 

" Should be Covered . . 127 

" Vats for 100, 126 

" Water in 98, 105 

Dips 82,126,127 

Dipping Baskets .... 89, 93 

Bright ,97 

Jars, Tank for ... 123 

Skill in 102 

" Small Work . . 89, 127 

Doctor ...,,... 220,266 
Doctoring, with Steam , . .271 
Double Flanges on Spindles 28, 41 
Dresser for Emery Wheels 

44,46,47 

Driving by Motors . . . . 33, 36 

Dry Fining 58 

Dust, Piping for 36 

Dynamos, Adjustment of 

Brushes. ... 164 
Bi-polar vs. Mul- 
tipolar .... 157 
Compound 

Wound . . . .150 
Construction of. 145 
Difference in 

Ratings . . .161 
Dropping C u r- 

rent . . . . . 149 
Doss in Heat 157, 160 
" Motor Driven . . 154 

Motor Generator 

151, 154 

Proper Placing 
of ...... 165 

Rheostats in 

Field of ... 195 
Separately. Ex- 
cited .... .152 

Series Wound 

147, 149 

Setting Brushes 

of 167 

Shunt Wound . 149 
" Sparking . . . 163 

Speed of . . . .147 
Ventilation o f 

. . . 148, 158, 159, 160 
Wiring from . . 168 



THE POLISHUmv, AND PLATING OF METALS. 



353 



E 

Electric Connections .... ir>:t 

Drives 33 

Lathes 27, 31 

Emery, Mixing on Glue 

Brushes ~>:j 

Stick 56 

" To Keep Properly . . .">:{ 

" Wheels 39 

" Wheel Dresser . . tt, 16 

Exercise in Open Air , ... 16 

Exhaust Fans 36 

Experience, Necessity of . . 6 

Eyes, Removing Metal from. 46 

" Lotion for Injured . . 4(5 



F 

Fans, Exhaust 36 

Felt Wheels 61 

Fining, Dry 58 

Finishing Stone 58, 64 

Firing Felt Wheels .... 63 
Fishing for Lost Work . . 16, 90 
Floor of Plating Room . . .111 
.Foot Power Lathes . . . 28, 15 
French Gray 322, 326 

G 

German Silver, to Plate . . .241 

Gilding Green 226 ' 

Spot '.'in 

Without Current . . '.".'I 

Glue, to Melt Properly • . . 53 

Gold, Bright Solution . . . LT4 

Cold Solution .... 218 

Green 225 

" Lining 216 

" Oxidizes on 337 

Plating l!»s 

" Roman 203 

" Rose 222 

14k Solutions 211 

Grades of Felt 63 

Gray on Silver 322, 325 

Grease Wheels ."7 

Green on Brass , 341 

'• Bronze .511 

" Silver 321 

Grinding Castings I", 

Gun Metal 326 



H 

Health, to Preserve . . • . 11 
High Finish, Necessity of . 87 
Hollow Articles, to Plate. U3!', 280 
How to Gel Knowledge ... 5 
Hydrofluoric Acid Pickle . . 95 
Hygiene for Platers .... 11 

I 

Inhaling Cyanide Fumes . 15 
Iron, Dips for, see Dips . . . 
" Pickles for, see Pickles. 

K 

Keeping Up-to-date 24 

Knowledge, How to Get ... 5 

L 

Lacquering :m 

Lacquer, Lint in _'| 

To Make 345 

To Remove .... 349 

Lathes, Dead Center . ... 39 

Belt Strapping. 30,42,43 

Electric . . . 27,31,3 

" Foot Power . . , 28, r 

" Heavy 21,23 

High Speed . . . 34, 35 

Light 38, H 

" Overhanging . 26,29,30 
Requirement - i il 
Twin Spindle . . 28, 32 

Leather Wheels 59 

Letters, to Fill 329 

Light in Polishing Room . . 34 

Lime, Vienna 79 

Lining Tanks 120 

Louis XVI Finish 342 

M 

Machines, Oiling .17 

Mahogany l\V<] ..... 
Making Wood Wheels . . . 50 
Measuring Instrument* . . 181 
Methods of Polishing . . . iV", 

Motors for Driving 33 

Moving Solutions 272 

Muriatic Acid Pickle .... 96 
Musical Instruments, to 

I Mate 247 



354 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



IS" 

Necessity of Experience . . 6 
" High Finish . 87 

Nickel, Black 326 

Bright 261 

Care of Solutions . . 267 

" For Rolling Baskets . 310 

Hot Solutions .... 270 

" On Brass and Copper 256 

" On Iron and Steel . . 263 

Tin, Lead, etc . . . .264 

Solutions 256 

" Solution, to Make . . 260 

to Strip 265 

Novelties, to Plate 241 

o 

Ohm . 182 

Oiling Machines 37 

Oreide 2U 

Ormolu Dips 104 

" Tank for . . . . 126 

Over Pickled Work 91 

Oxidizing 318 

Oxidized Brass 334 

Gold 337 

P 

Piping for Dust ...... 36 

Pipes, Sewer 109 

Pickles 88,127 

Vats for . . . 88,100,126 
Pickle, Hydrofluoric Acid . . 95 

" For Iron 93 

" Muriatic Acid .... 96 
Pickling, Preparing Work for 99 
Plating Hollow Articles. 216, 239 

Light for 143 

Room 109,143 

Floor of . . . HI 
Steam for . . 125 
Plumbing Fixtures for Tanks 124 
Poisoning, Cyanide ... 11, 18 
" " Symp- 

toms of . 12, 15 
" Caustic Potash . 13 

Remedies for . . IS 
Salve for .... 14 

Polishing Belts 42,58 

" Chain 67 

" Lathe, Require- 
ments of . . . 26 



Polishing Room, Arrange- 
ment of 20 

By Rolling .... 306 

" In Barrels .... 84 

" Methods of .... 65 

Rods and Tubes . 67 

Potash 129,131,133,237 

Purple on Copper 321 

Preservation of Health ... 11 

n 

Rainbow Colors on Lacquer 

345, 347 

Rattling Barrels ...... 83 

Remedies for Poisoning ... 18 
Removing Metal from the 

Eyes 46 

Rheostats 188 

Rods, Tank 176 

" To Polish 67 

Rolling Barrels 304 

Baskets 307 

Rose Gold 222 

Royal Copper 333 

Rouge 76 

Roughing-out Wheels . . 47, 64 

s 

Salesmen as Sources of In- 
formation 9 

Salve for Poisoning .... 14 

Sand Blast 209,316 

Buffing . 79 

" on Castings, to Dissolve 95 

Satin Finish Dips 101 

Sawdust in Cleaning Cast- 
ings 86 

Scratch Brushes .... 81, 210 
Scratches on Finished Work. 22 
Screens in Dust Pipes. ... 37 
Setting up Wheels .... 52, 63 

Sewer Pipes 109 

Shaft, Flexible .... 29.31,40 

Sheepskin Wheels 60 

Shoes, Wooden 107 

Short Circuits 178 

Silver, Amounts on Work 230, 240 

" Appearance of Work . 250 

Chloride, to Make . . 232 

" Sand on 231 

" To Recover 247 

To Strip .245 



THE POLISHING AND PLATING OF METALS. 



355 



Silver Plating Without Bat- 
tery -'"it 

Solutions 227 

Strike, Regular . . . 234 

" Strike for Steel . . . -'-i 

Strip, Tank for . . . 126 

Sizes of Buffs ....... "1 

Skimming Solutions . . . .134 

Solutions, Black Nickel . 326 

Brass 289 

Bright Silver . . 242 

" Bronze 301 

Copper 282 

" Cyanide of Silver 'JT>* > 

Gold 198 

" Moving '-'72 

" Nickel 256 

Nickel, Hot . . . 270 
" Nickel, Care of . . 267 

Silver 227 

" Silver, Manage- 
ment of . . ■ . . 243 
For Rolling Bas- 
kets 309 

To Skim .... 134 
Sources of Information . . 6,10 

Speed of Buffs 71 

Spindles, Double Flanged. 28, 41 

Steam for Plating Room. 12."), 137 

" Pipe for Tanks . . . 

.... 123, 131, 133, 136 

Steel, Blue on 321 

Stone, Finishing .... 58, 64 
Strapping, Belt .... 30,42,43 

Stripping Nickel 265 

Silver 243 

Sulphuric Acid Pickle . . . 93 
Supplies, Proper Keeping of. 141 

T 

Tank Covers 134 

" For Dipping Jars . 123,126 

" Lining 120 

For Potash . . 129,131,133 
For Scrubbing . . 132, 133 

Rods 176 

Tanks .... 112, 126, 131, 132, 133 

" Cleansing 133 

Hot Water 130 

Plumbing for 121, 126. 131, 1 
Steam Pipe for . . . 

12:., 129, 131, 133 

Tripoli 7* 

Tumbling Carrels s 3 



u 

I'si- of Composition mi Huffs 7:i 



V 

Vats. . 88,100,112,126,131,132,133 
Ventilation of Dynamos . . 

11\ 158, 159, 160 

Verde Antique 332 

Vienna Lime 79 

Volt 182 

" Meter, Wiring of. . . . l s 7 



w 

Walrus Wheels 59 

Washing Wheels 55 

Water for Plating Room. 128, 135 

in Dips 98, 105 

Wheels, Bull-neck 60 

Cotton Flannel . . . 75 
" Compressed Leather SI 

Emery 39 

Felt 'U 

Firing Felt .... 93 

" Grease 57 

" Leather 59 

Sheepskin 60 

Should Run with Nap 62 
" To Balance .... 56 

" Setting up . . . 52, 63 

" Walrus 59 

" Washer 55 

Wood I' 

Wiring, Capacity of .... 17:i 

Work, Appearance of Pickled 90 

" Fishing for Losl . . . 16 

Wood Wheels W 

Wheel Cover Claim. 51,52 

" Wheel-, to Cover ■ . . 51 

Wooden Shoes 1"7 

A' 

yellow "ii < topper . . 



z 

Zinc, Carbonate, to Make • .294 

To Polish -1 



10 
E 

CQ 
III 



Je 



* 

h 
h 
II] 

> 
II] 

J 

* 

id 
o 

IN 




CD 



CO 



CO 

CO 



CO 

as 
cc 



o 
> 

z 






«1 









cfl 


CO 


0) 


CO 



















UJ 


bl 


Id 


co 




o 


o 


(fl 


UJ 

< 
_l 


o 


2 

< 


CO 

o 
a. 


CC 
U 
Q. 


CC 
bl 

a. 


111 
o 

It 


J 
-1 


z 




< 


t 


z 


cc 


g 


S | 


L. 


. 


s 





CC 


H 


>■ 


D 


< 


< 


o 


O 

o 


< 
I 
a 

z 


00 


U 




> 


o 

UJ 

_i 


Q 


a. 

-i 
_i 


o 

in 


o 
o 


I 
u 

z 


< 
o 


■ 

in 


< 
2 


5 




UJ 




< 
oc 



2 

o 

(C 


o 

(0 

o 


4 
DC 

CD 


I 
u 


i 

oc 
a 




-1 






u. 


u. 


H 










Polishing, and 

Plating Room 

EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES. 



We have had twenty-five years 
experience in fitting up rooms for 
above purposes. If you intend to 
buy such equipment, please write 
to us for figures, giving; full par- 
ticulars. 



CUTTER, WOOD & STEVENS CO. 

68-70 PEARL ST. 

BOSTON, MASS. 



When writing advertisers mention The Polishing and Platihg of Metals. 



Ideal Electro Plating Dynamo 



MANUFACTURED BY 



BENNETT & O'CONNELL CO. 




Built in elf ven sizes, from 50 amperes to 2,500 amperes. Our multipolar com- 
pound wound dynamos will automatically hold their voltage constant from no load 
to full load. Write for descriptive catalogue and prices. 

This illustration shows our 
improved voft meter for con- 
tinuous current of low poten- 
tial (1 to 10 volts) built in four 
sizes, 

No. 1 is provided with two 
terminals or binding posts for 
connection with dynamo or 
one tank. 

No. 2 Is provided with six 
terminals or binding posts for 
connection with wires leading 
to five tanks and dynamo. 

No. 3 is provided with ter- 
minals for connection with ten 
tanks and dynamo. 

No. 4 is provided with termi- 
nals for connection with fifteen 
tanks and dynamo. To ascer- 
tain the voltage at any one 
tank, press the button that 
has corresponding number on 
terminal and the needle at 
once indicates the voltage in 
the tank. 

Continuous reading of any 
one tank or dynamo can be 
made by slightly pressing and 
turning the button until locked. These instruments are highly finished with cast 
aluminum case and mounted on polished mahogany base. Write for Prices. 

BENNETT 8c O'CONNELL CO. 

Manufacturers and Dealers in Platers' and Polishers' Supplies, Polishing and 

Buffing Machinery. 

97-99-101 S. CLINTON STREET, CHICAGO. 

When writing advertisers mention The Polishing and Plating of Metals. 




Reliance Plating Tumbling Barrel* 

We call attention to our plating and tum- 
bling barrel, for plating and tumbling small 
articles of work which can not l>e easily or pro- 
fitably handled in the usual way. 

It will not only plate and tumble the work 
better and quicker, but it will surprise you to 
note the amount of work one of these barrels 
will turn out. It saves time, labor and material. 

Many concerns -who now have it in use find 
it indispensable for their purpose, and can refer 
you to any of them if desired. 

You can not afford to be without a Reliance 
Plating Tumbling Barrel if you have this class of 
work to do. 

If interested would be pleased to hear from 
you, and your orders or inquiries will have my prompt and careful 
attention. 




The Yale Satin Finish Brushes 




will produce the satin finish or sand- 
blast effect so much in use at the pre- 
sent time, on white metal, brass, Ger- 
man silver, steel, cast iron or alumi- 
num. They are simple in construc- 
tion and can be readily operated by 
any one without previous experience 
in satin finishing. We would call your 
attention to the construction of the 
patent wire tufts as shown in cut, as by reason of this the Yale Satin 
Finish Brushes are more durable, will do the work better, quicker and 
more economically than any other brush on the market. 

The brush is becoming a favorite among all silver plate, brass and 
chandelier manufacturers, job shops and jewelers. To any one who 
may be fortunate enough to see one of our folders and think the brush 
can be used in their business, we will be pleased to promptly answer 
all correspondence in regard to same. 

We carry a stock of the wire tufts for refilling the Satin Finisb 
Brushes and they can be refilled at very little cost. In ordering, 
specify size of your spindle in Buffing Stand. 



CHAS. F. L/HOMMEDIEU 

Manufacturer and Dealer in Plating and Polishing Supplies. 

Complete Plating Outfits, Plating Dynamos, Polishing 

Machinery, High Grade Lacquers, (iarnet 

and Flint Papers. 



48 S. Clinton Street 



CHICAGO, ILL. 



When writing adveriisers mention The Polishing and Plating of Metals. 



Are you Interested in Dynamos ? 




If so you should know that we are prepared to furnish any- 
thing in this line that may be required for 

ELECTROPLATING — ELECTROTYPING 

or Electrolytic operations of any kind in which low voltage 
machines are required. 

We Manufacture 

Dynamos, Rheostats, Voltmeters, Ammeters, Anodes of 
all kinds, Polishing and Buffing Machinery and all Chem- 
icals or Supplies used in Electro Chemical operations. 



The Hanson & Van Winkle Co* 



ESTABLISHED J 820. 



NEWARK, N. J., U. S. A. 
Chicago, 30 32 Canal St. New York, 92 William St. 

When writing advertisers mention The Polishing and Plating of Metals. 



In our Complete Catalogue of some 200 pages we 
show a large variety of EQUIPMENT FOR METAL 
FINISHING operations. 

We cannot show or mention all these items here — 
space will not permit — but some of them are as follows : 




POLISHING LATHES. BUFFING HEADS. 

BELT STRAPPERS. EMERY GRINDERS. 

WHEEL CLEANERS. STEAM GLUE HEATERS. 

EMERY BELTS. WHEEL TRUEING DEVICE. 

TUMBLING BARRELS. FLEXIBLE SHAFTS. 

WIRE BRUSHES FOR CLEANING CASTINGS. 

PURE TURKISH EMERY. CORUNDUM WHEELS. 

WOOD TANKS. ENAMELED IRON TANKS. 

LYE TANKS AND KETTLES. 

WIRE BASKETS FOR LYE OR ACID DIPPING. 



The Hanson 5c Van Winkle Co. 

Established 1&20 

NEWARK, N. J., (J. S. A. 

Chicago, 30-32 Canal St. New York. 92 William St. 

When writiD? advertisers mention The Polishing and Flatinc ol Metals. 



Electro Plating Dynamos 




1 1 Sizes*. 50 to 5000 Hmperes 

5 to 6 Volts 
Bipolar arid Multipolar 



CHAS. T. BOGUE 

Centre Street, NEW YORK CITY. 



Telephone 
2111 Spring. 



Cables 
Machelect, New York. 



When writing advertisers mention The Polishing and Plating of Metals. 



"Al" BUFFS 

Made of Best Cloth 
In Best Way .... 



Too Good for Some 
Just Right for You 

USED BY LEADING SILVERSMITHS, 
JEWELERS AND METAL WORKERS 



The Williamsville Mfg. Co. 

18 South Water Street 
PROVIDENCE, R. I. 

MILLS AT KILLINGLY, CONN. 



THE ONLY BUFF MANUFACTURERS 
WHO MAKE THEIR OWN CLOTHE 



If your dealer will not supply 
you WE WILL 



When writing advertisers mention The Polishing and Plating of Metnis. 



We Make 

LACQUERS 

FOR 

SILVER PLATE, BRASS, COPPER, 

TIN AND OXIDIZED WORK OF 

EVERY DESCRIPTION 



Did You Ever Try to Make Your Own? 

THEN WHY NOT SAVE 

Time, Worry, Money, 

Labor and Gray Hairs 

BY BUYING FROM 

M. L. BARRETT & CO. 

219 LAKE ST., CHICAGO. 



Lacquers for incandescent lamps in all the 

rainbow colors; also opal and 

crystal frosting. 



When writing advertisers mention The Polishing and Plating of Metals 



WESTON ELECT RICAL 
INSTRUMENT CO. 



WAVERLY PARK, NEWARK, N. J. 




WESTON 

Standard Portable Direct 
Reading 

Voltmeters, Millivoltmeters, Yoltam- 
meters, Ammeters, Milammeters, 
Ground Detectors and Circuit 
Testers, Ohmmeters, Portable Gal- 
vanometers. 



Weston Round Pattern, Model F, 
Station Ammeter, 

Our portable Instruments are recog- 
nized as The Standard the world 
over. The Semi-Portable Laboratory 
Standards are still better. Our Sta- 
tion Voltmeters and Ammeters are 
unsurpassed in point of extreme ac- 
curracy and lowest consumption of 
energy. 




Weston Standard Portable 
Voltmeter. 



Send for Illustrated Catalogue. 



WESTON ELECTRICAL INSTRUMENT CO 

Waverly Park, Newark, N. J„ U. S. A. 



NEW YORK 
74 Cortlandt Street. 



PARIS 
E. H. Cadiot, 12 Rue St. Georges. 
BERLIN 
European Weston Electrical Instrument Co., Ritterstrasse, No. 88. 

When writing advertisers mention The Polisbinc and Plating of Metals. 



H J HAWKINS 



COWSULTING PLATER; 

When in trouble consult me. 



FORMULAE FOR ALL DIPS, OXI DIZES AND SOLUTIONS. 



Old solutions fixed up; new ones made* ]Vew 
plants installed* Written instructions furnished 
in any line of electro-plating. HU correspond- 
ence will be treated as confidential. 

6817 CHAMPLAIN AVE, CHICAGO, ILL. 



Watchmakers' and Jewelers' 

PRACTICAL RECIPE BOOK 



128 Pages, 7^x6K Inches. Bound in Maroon Silk Cloth, with Gold 
Back and Side Stamps,, $1.25. Paper Covers, $1.00. 

cmi J^ e ^ e i is a i ha ^ er °. n the composition of alloys, including; the carat 
fnnlj colored S olds / imitation golds, platinum alloys aluminum 
ben m^?rf a H e K Se alloyS ' S , ilver all °y s ' Citation silver, nickel™ foyT 
mrf?, nn a . nd bronzes. A chapter on the recovery and refining of 

?»ZS d AH a . ^';a°fJf.-- P lrec "on« for mak]„£ and „sin| Stored 

^io*i ch . a P ters on alloys are alone worth the price of the book to anv 
Kt r kofu d tion P s e . ClallythOSe Wh ° have trouble P with anod e es°for yellow 

SENT POSTPAID ON RECEIPT OF PRICE. 



HAZLITT & WALKER 

373 DEARBORN STREET, - CHICAGO, ILL. 

When writing advertisers mention The Polishing and Plating of Metals. 



Modern Electro Plating 

By J. H. VAN HORNE 



The only work on the market that gives proper attention to the 
modern tools, materials and methods used in preparing work for 
plating. It takes up matters from the beginning and tells how to 
manipulate articles from the rough casting, forging or stamping, 
clear through all the processes of polishing, plating, etc., down to 
the final cost of lacquer. It explains how to make the plating solu- 
tions, how to keep them in order and how to manipulate the work and 
the current so as to get the best results. It treats brass, copper, 
silver, alloys and gold solutions in a comprehensive way that enables 
the student or workman to understand the reasons for the various 
operations and makes him in a large degree independent of rigid 
and exact formulae, thus allowing him to make or modify the various 
solutions to exactly suit the nature of his work. 189 pages, with 27 
illustrations, handsomely bound in cloth, with full and complete 
index, $1 00. Paper cover, 75c. 



The Art of Hard Soldering 

By HENRY G. ABBOTT. 

A neat, cloth-bound volume, with numerous illlustrations. 
A practical book for practical men. In it the art is thorough- 
ly described. Contents: Essential Requisites ; Blow Pipes ; 
the Bush Lamp ; Care of Lamps ; Hot Blast Pipes ; the Foot 
Blower ; Structure of Flame ; Asbestos Boards and Pails ; 
Magic Repair Clamps; Soldering Forceps; Solders and Al- 
loys; Silver Solders; Solders in General; General Instruc- 
tions; the Various Lamps; the Poppen Lamp; Alcobol 
Lamps; Automatic Blow Pipes , New Blow Pipes; Gold 
Solders ; Practical Hints; Making Strong Joints, etc. 64 
pages, 16 mo., Cloth, with Gold Side Stamp, 50c. 

HAZLITT & WALKER, Publishers. 

373 Dearborn St., CHICAGO. ILL. 

When writing advertisers mention The Polishing and Plating o( Metals. 



Graham Chemical Stoneware 




Superior to all other materials for use 
with pickling and plating solutions. Thor- 
oughly vitrified, absolutely impervious and 
acid proof. 




DIPPING BASKETS, 

POTS, PITCHERS 

TANKS AND BOXES 

of any shape and capacity made to order. 




€ba$. Graham Chemical Pottery OJorks 

986-1018 ]VU|rattotita£Jb>e., Brooklyn, I s *. ^. 

When writing ad^rtilws Tnention-^'hW'olishing and Plating 1 of Metals. 











G^ ^ '• • » 







V . O » 8 









°o 












V^V %^-/ V--~*'** 




^ i4» 







^ *? »V 




J ^,^ .v^K-. \..J W&;. ^J il^ki. S 




°^ *•. 






* ^ 

\ 







<. 0,i *& <► •*77» 1 ^ 



> ^ v 



V . i * 





/.c^.% 

















,40. 





•" ** 



..0- jp- ^ *?S7r* / % -T^* / V ^ 









4, *jW0V* *Ow a* * 










^o 1 








<> *'7V 



w- ^o 4 * :m 




. I /^^i\ JUL Ml) **HM**r* cy d* • «» « 



